The Luck of the Gods
by the persuit of shiney things
Summary: Loki's going to need all the luck he can get when, one after the other, a huge new array of deities come barreling into Loki's life and change it drastically. Fuller summery in my profile. Takes place after the anime and first manga. Various pairings.
1. Flashbacks and Cases

((Here, world

((Here, world! Take this! My first fic on , an awesome Loki Ragnarok story! Hyahh!

…

Yeah, that was dumb. But still, you get the point.

Anyway, first things first: this story takes place after the first volume of the manga. The most important thing this entails is that the entire anime series has occurred, and Spica (a.k.a. Angerboda, Loki's first wife and a Jotun giantess who is now a blue-haired girl with a quiet disposition and huge appetite) is living with Loki, Yamino, Fenrir, and Ecchan. However, none of the stuff in the second book with Utgard Loki has (or will) happen(ed). Got it?

Also, I mention that the way I have Loki act in the fic is a mixture of the calmer, more mature Loki in the anime and the goofier, more childish version in the manga, although he'll be mostly the calmer version early on. Just so you know.

Also, I own none of the Norse deities (duh) or any of the characterization that was made by Loki Ragnarok's creator. So, now we go to the story…which starts with a flashback…))

_The fabled and revered Norse god of chaos stood in the shining halls of Asgard. He was insanely handsome, with tousled red-brown hair and piercing green eyes and an impish smile. Although he wasn't smiling at the moment…quite the opposite, he wore an expression that could be seen as agony, fear, regret, anger, and confusion, combined into one macabre emotion that remains unnamed._

_Beside him stood a woman about his age in a dark dress, with darker hair and even darker tear filled eyes one could just barely discern were blue. She, too, was nice to look at, but with her face contorted with such grief and worry that one felt the need to look away. It was heartbreaking._

_Standing before them was a pair of young men, each of whom bore the same fetching green eyes as the handsome man and the same inky dark hair of the beautiful woman, making it obvious that they were the pair's sons. One, the younger, clung tightly to his brother's arm as he gazed in terror at the myriad band of gods who surrounded them, all not quite looking at them, their faced darkened and made unrecognizable by unseen shadows. The elder boy's mouth twitched like he was containing shouts of fear or unwise, snide remarks, but he stood firm and tall like his father, trying to appear unfazed._

_A voice boomed from nowhere. __**"Loki,"**__ is called the chaos god's name, making everyone flinch except the one who was actually addressed. __**"You know why you are here, I assume."**_

_Loki took a deep breath and sighed, looking down. "Yes, Odin. Because I…killed Balder."_

"_**You must pay for your crimes, Loki."**_

_Loki looked up now, in the direction one could vaguely discern Odin's bellow came from. "Fine," Loki announced. "I'll pay. But leave my family out of this."_

"_L-Loki," the beautiful woman said through her silent sobs, and Loki reached back and put his arms around her. He then looked toward his sons and gave them an encouraging nod, which the elder boy returned._

"_**For being yours, they must also pay."**_

_Loki glared at Odin's voice. "But that makes no sense! It isn't fair!"_

"_**Neither was the slaying of my son."**__ Odin reasoned._

_Loki's face flashed with guilt momentarily. "I did not mean to kill him. I didn't!"_

"_**But you did. And for taking my child…"**_

"_Odin, no! Anything but that!"_

"…_**You will lose your children."**_

_The gods surrounding the group all shared soft gasps and began to stir with confusion and excitement. Some seemed to agree with Odin, chuckling softly and exchanging murmurs of agreement: others, however, sided with Loki's family. One of the younger onlookers, a pretty blonde girl, even went so far as to try and approach the boys, but a slightly smaller girl with flaming red hair placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back._

_For a minute, nothing happened. Other than the whispers of the onlookers and the quiet choking sobs of Loki's wife, there was no sound. Perhaps Odin had only been toying with Loki…_

_Then the elder son howled in pain, suddenly engulfed with purple and black light. The younger let go of his arm like it was on fire. "Vali!" he called his suffering brother's name. He looked toward his parents, who were frozen by some strange white light, unable to move or look away from this horrible scene. The mother only stared, while Loki was obviously trying to move, trying to reach his sons. The god surrounding all shrieked and yelled, but a strange force field held them back, keeping any who wished to assist the mischief god's family from coming close._

"_FATHER!" yelled Vali, his shout sounding less than human. "HELP ME!" He howled again, and it sounded more like a real animal howl this time. He was changing, morphing, disfiguring. The younger brother fell to his knees and watched in terror as Vali turned completely into a beast…and then suddenly lunged for the younger's throat. Vali's brother hadn't even time for a final cry._

_And Loki could do nothing but look on helplessly…_

Loki shouted and sat straight up in bed. He gasped for a bit with unreleased screams, then glanced around. He was not in the glimmering halls Odin called his own, but in his own bedroom on earth. He was not a man at the moment, but a young (adorable) boy. And the child before him was not Vali or Vali's brother Navri, but their half brother Fenrir (who wasn't even a child, he was a puppy).

"What was that about?" Fenrir said sleepily, just waking up. He looked at the clock. "It's only five in the morning."

"Sorry, Fenrir," Loki said solemnly. "I didn't mean to wake you. I just…had a bad dream."

Fenrir looked over his father worriedly. "What kind of bad dream, Daddy?" he inquired.

The answer was waylaid when another of Loki's children entered the room. Yamino, who we all are aware was really the Midgard serpent, opened the door and poked his head in. "Master Loki, why did you shout?" he asked with concern.

"He was about to tell me," Fenrir told his brother with a bit of anger. Yamino ignored it and approached his father.

With a shake of his head, Loki admitted "I dreamed about your half brothers, Vali and Navri. And what Odin did to them." Fenrir and Yamino exchanged looks. That was a sad subject, but a little awkward for them too.

Loki smiled sadly. "It's alright. I'm fine now." With that, Loki got out of bed and stretched, trying to look like nothing was up, even though his mind was furiously struggling to decide whether or not the dream/memory was a prophecy or just the result of eating too much of the cake Mayura had given him before bed. "On a different topic, where's Spica?"

"Still asleep," Yamino said after a moment. "She stayed up late helping me last night, so I guess she didn't hear you."

"Good, I wouldn't want to worry her," Loki said with some relief. It went unsaid that the topic of Loki's remarriage to a woman among the gods was a touchy one he'd avoided at all costs. "Anyway, now that I'm up, I might as well get ready for the day…I actually have a client with a case coming in today."

Around noon, the doorbell rang, and Yamino opened it to admit the earlier mentioned client. She was a normal but worried looking woman about twenty-two years old who was dressed in the garb of a secretary, implying that she'd come here right from work. Her tan hair was pulled back in a bun, but it had come a little loose, falling into her green-brown eyes. She was pretty…and pretty scared.

"I'm Megumi Hanabusa," she introduced herself to Loki, who was standing nearby when she entered. He wore a white short-sleeved buttoned shirt, a red vest, and black pants (Because in the manga he wears different outfits, which I prefer to the anime when he always wears the same thing). All in all, he was a pretty professional looking little guy. "I assume…you're the child paranormal detective I heard about?"

"That I am," Loki confirmed, smiling at her comfortingly. "You sounded nervous on the phone, so we'll get right to it. Come up to my office and we'll discuss your case immediately." Megumi followed Loki without hesitation, which Loki found slightly surprising: usually people were a bit slow to believe someone his size was really a detective.

That was explained right after Megumi sat down on the couch. "I'm so glad that you're really ready to believe me. I've seen other detectives, but they all either discredited my story once I mentioned it was paranormal or else they got so gung-ho about it that I couldn't trust them. Plus, you're the same age as my sister who was the main witness to the whole thing, so I think she'll be more likely to talk to you than to the adult detectives I brought in."

"I'm glad to have your confidence," Loki told her. "Now, please tell me exactly what happened as far as you know.

Megumi nodded. "It was about three weeks ago, now. My home is a large apartment where I live with my five younger siblings, and the older three of us-me, Shinji, who's nineteen, and Midori, who's fifteen-work. We're all adopted, that's why our ages are so messed up. One night all three of us older ones had to go out, but we were fine, because we trusted our siblings. Their names are Kori, Yuki, and Maki. Kori's the one who's your age, and she's insanely responsible and kind, we trust her with the younger two even though she's so small."

"Kori's the one who you said is the 'main witness,' then," Loki said, to insure he was correct.

"Yes," Megumi confirmed. "Anyway, that night while we were out, something happened. From what my siblings told me…

_Flashback_

"_C'mon, you two, time for bed!" said Kori to her younger siblings, both of whom were already in their pajamas and sitting in the living room watching a cartoon. "I let you stay up a half hour later than usual."_

"_Okay, Onee-chan," the young ones said without hesitation. They got up and were about to let Kori lead them to their rooms when suddenly a loud smash from the kitchen, followed by an eerie growling sound. Kori's face went pale. "Oh, no…"_

"_What was that, Onee-chan?" asked Yuki, a seven-year-old boy. He sounded excited. "A monster?"_

"_I-I think so," Kori admitted, sounding scared. The youngest, the six-year-old girl Maki, began to cry within an instant. Kori grabbed both children by the hand and quickly led them away from the room into Megumi's. She opened the closet and shoved both children in._

"_I'm going to get the bat in Shinji's room and get rid of them," Kori told the smaller ones. "You two stay in here, and don't leave unless me or one of our older siblings lets you. Promise me that no matter what you hear, you'll stay here and won't come out."_

_Maki nodded, still crying. Yuki shakily said "I promise." Kori shut the door tightly and ran off._

_End flashback_

"When she let them out later, she was covered in blood and holding Shinji's favorite baseball bat…the blood was not hers, though. I got home just then…" Megumi shuddered. "It was a wolf."

"A wolf?" Loki repeated, not incredulously, but with mild surprise.

"A wolf," Megumi concluded. "Kori had beat the creature half to death, and it could just barely move…it kept trying to bite us, especially Kori…she looked tired, not scared or anything, just tired, and the kids were horrified…she said there had been two, but one had left when it saw she had the bat.

"I've never seen a wolf that big before. I have no idea how Kori was strong enough to bash it so badly, or how it got into our fifth-story apartment through the window. We called animal control, but when they picked up the wolf, it suddenly seemed to get better. It ran into another room, a closed room, and…it vanished. The animal control men thought we were playing a prank on them…"

Loki looked deep in thought. He seemed to be trying to decide whether or not something was true. "You don't believe me," Megumi said wearily.

"Oh, no, I definitely believe you," Loki said sincerely. "I've just…heard of a similar case to this, and I'm trying to figure out whether the two are related." He smiled. "I hope I'm right, because that would mean this is an isolated incident and you won't have to worry about creatures coming into your house anymore."

"Really?!" Megumi asked, sounding terribly hopeful.

"I'll have to talk with Kori about the details of the incident, but I'm pretty sure that you're all safe now. If you wouldn't mind, could I go over to your house to talk to Kori personally? Accompanied by my assistant Yamino, of course."

"Yes, yes, you can come over!" Megumi said, extremely relived that there was a good chance she didn't have to worry anymore. "You can come over today, if you like! Shinji, Midori and Yuki have some friends over, but they won't cause any problems, they'll stay out of your way!"

"Well, if it's not too much trouble for you, then I'll come right now. Let me get my coat. Wait here for a few moments." Loki got up and left the room, immediately locating Yamino, who was working with Spica in the kitchen. He no longer smiled as he told them what he suspected about the wolves.

"You really think they were Odin's pets Geri and Freki?" Yamino asked, amazed. "But why would they attack an innocent girl? And how could she fend them off?"

"Because she must be a deity," Loki explained in the same tone Sherlock Holmes probably used when he said "Elementary, my dear Watson." He scowled to no one. "I have a good idea which one, too…"

"Master Loki?" Yamino said, concerned.

"Spica, I'd like you to stay here and keep safe, okay?" Loki suddenly instructed his wife among the giants. "Yamino is coming with me to help interview the other Hanabusas, but Fenrir will stay here in case Odin's using this to get me out of the house and attack you."

Spica nodded. Loki motioned for Yamino to come, and the two quickly went to get Loki's coat and go to Megumi's home.

((And so ends chappie numbah one. Oh, for those who might not know, 'Onee-chan' is a term that means big sister. Putting a more respectful honorific on it instead of –chan would obviously _be_ more respectful, but Kori is the younger of Yuki and Maki's elder sisters, so it makes sense that they'd use an honorific attributed to younger girls. Can any of you guess who Kori really is, using that flashback for a clue?

Oh, and Geri and Freki are Odin's pet wolves. Their names both mean 'greedy.' Odin doesn't need to eat, so he feeds all his food to his wolves instead. So say the Norse myths, anyway. Unless I'm wrong and I got confused with the myths somewhere along the line.

Also, I took liberties with the scene where Vali is morphed…meaning that my small amount of research tells me that Vali's transformation did not occur in the palace that the gods lived in. It happened in the cave where Loki was bound to rocks immediately after (with the intestines of the younger brother Navri, which were turned into iron after tying Loki up). But I felt like it would make more of an impression if it happened with an audience, plus I wanted to foreshadow the arrival of a couple characters who appear later on (i.e. those girls). So, if any of you cares, be aware that I'm aware I'm not necessarily being true to the myth.

That's it, then. Until the next chapter, I bid you adieu! Read and review!))


	2. Kori

((So, we're going into the Hanabusa apartment and meet the deity Odin's after…let's see who guessed right

((So, we're going into the Hanabusa apartment and meet the deity Odin's after…let's see who guessed right!

Ohh, and here's some review shout outs:

Seven Midnights: Thanks for giving me my very first review! I'm glad you like the Vali/Narvi references, there's going to be plenty more!

YuukiHaruka: You really think it's that good? Thanks! And I'll try to keep "author's notes" out of the story, like you suggested. Also, I object to your fanfic name. SatoshiHaruka all the way.

SecondtoNon: I'm glad you think my story's promising. I hope I don't disappoint!

And now, the story.))

The apartment Megumi and her adopted siblings lived in was only five blocks from Loki's mansion. Although he was relieved that it was within walking distance and he didn't have to ride in a car to get there, he felt a little embarrassed; a deity had been practically under his nose and he hadn't sensed her.

Especially considering who he thought she was…

The trio was silent as they walked into the building in which the Hanabusa apartment (which was actually more like three small apartments connected by doors). Megumi opened the door to the home and the three were instantly met with a loud clamor that came from so many kids in such a small place (all five other Hanabusas and various friends!). Loki and Yamino exchanged looks of mild reluctance before entering the maelstrom after Megumi.

They were met first by a young man, presumably Shinji. His hair was dark and tousled, and his hazel eyes projected annoyance. He did not look like a happy person. "I thought you were getting a detective to interview Onee-chan, Megumi, and not some runt!"

"He isn't a runt, be nice," Megumi chastised. She turned and quickly explained "We call Kori 'Onee-chan' as a joke because she can be more responsible than us even though we're older."

"I see," Loki said, smirking a little at the joke. Before he had a chance to say more, a small girl practically tackled Loki.

"You're the detective, huh, huh, huh?" she asked excitedly. "You're cute!"

Loki had to grin at the expressive child. "Yes, I'm the detective. I'm very good. I already know your name is Maki and I've never even met you before."

For a second, Maki looked amazed. Then she pouted. "Onee-sama just told you how old I am and stuffs. That's not detective."

"No, but you almost thought it was," Loki told her. She just pouted more. Loki glanced up at Megumi, who was smiling at how he interacted with her sister with a look on her face that implied Maki wasn't always this good with strangers. Yamino looked like he didn't know how to react.

"It appears that I'm getting distracted from the task at hand," Loki said, gently pushing Maki away. "Yamino, would you mind talking to the other siblings while I speak with Kori on my own?"

"Uh, certainly, Master Loki," Yamino said with a slight edge of nervousness, glancing in the direction Shinji had gone after being scolded by Megumi.

"Don't mind Shinji, he has a horrible temper," Megumi informed him, quick to make Yamino more comfortable. "And he's been too worried to get sleep since the incident. I'll help you out with talking to them."

"Thank you very much," said Yamino with gratitude. Megumi pointed Loki in the direction of the bedrooms, and then accompanied Yamino in tracking down the other Hanabusas (it was amazing how difficult it was to tell where such loud family members were). Loki went off in search of Kori's room.

It wasn't hard, since all the children had their names on their doors, apparently carved in by someone with a pocketknife or something out of boredom. Loki found the right door and reached out to open it, but paused, staring at the doorknob for a minute in contemplation.

"Can it really be you?" he whispered to himself. "Are we really going to see each other again?"

And with those words, Loki knocked on the door, looking like nothing in the world could prepare him for who was about to answer.

A very pretty young girl's voice called out in response to Loki. "No, Onee-sama, I'm not talking to any more detectives! Please leave me alone!" There was a small thump against the door, which was presumably made by a pillow or stuffed animal thrown at it.

Loki flinched at the sound of the voice, not in pain from dislike of the speaker, but the opposite: the voice, although different, was recognizably one that belonged to someone he cared for and didn't know how to talk to anymore. So he just took a deep breath and answered.

"I'm not Megumi, I'm the detective she brought. Are you sure you don't want to talk to me? If you really don't, say so and I'll go."

There was silence from inside the room, and Loki couldn't even hear the noise made in the rest of the house because of how loud that silence was. He waited for a full minute before he couldn't take it anymore and spoke again. "May I come into your room, please?" Again, nothing. Loki took another deep breath and mumbled some sort of mantra or plea for good luck, then slowly turned the knob to the door and opened it.

Sitting on the bed, staring at him as she had probably been staring at the door since hearing Loki's voice, was a very, very pretty girl the same age as Loki's current form. Her short, straight hair was the color of ink, and her eyes were the darkest blue Loki had ever seen. Her face was pale, like she hadn't been outside for some time, but it flushed with emotion upon seeing Loki. Her outfit was a black and white striped long sleeved shirt and overalls.

She got off the bed, her socked feet keeping her from making a sound upon touching the floor. She didn't move after that. She just gazed at Loki in utter disbelief. He slowly, without turning away from her, entered the room, kicked the pillow she'd thrown before out of the way, and closed the door behind him. He approached her with the greatest caution, like he expected her to bolt like a deer.

"It _is_ you," he breathed, smiling slightly. "It really is you…Siguna, my wife among the gods."

Suddenly her eyes got teary, and she ran over to Loki and embraced him tightly. She tried to say something, but she was crying, and the words came out in a garbled mass that was muffled by her burying her face in his clothes as she hugged him. The only thing recognizable was Loki's name, repeated over and over. Loki hugged her back gently, as though he was afraid she'd shatter in his arms like glass.

For a while, they stayed like that, because Loki wanted to let Siguna/Kori cry it out. When she finally seemed to run out of tears, he held her further away from himself, to get a good look at her, keeping his hands on her shoulders. "Siguna…or Kori, now…how long have you been on Midgard? Did Odin send you here?"

She shook her head. "No, Loki. I sent myself here very soon after Odin sent you. I didn't want him to make me an assassin…I'd rather make it so I could never see you again than have to hurt you."

_The exact opposite of Spica_, Loki mused, _who wanted to see me so badly she let herself be cursed._ "So you've been so close to me all this time and neither of us knew…"

"Close?" she repeated, confused.

"I live in the mansion five blocks away."

"What?!" she exclaimed in shock, looking amazed. "I-I chose the Hanabusas because I knew you were in Japan and they were easy to slip into, but…five blocks away?! I feel so stupid…"

"Join the club," Loki said with a sigh. He was smiling, though. "I didn't think I'd see you again…and here you are." Insert awkward pause here. "Should I call you Siguna, or Kori?"

"Call me Kori, for now. Siguna is for when I'm a goddess." Kori looked Loki over, then smiled like she was amused by something. "Wow…you're such a cute little kid!"

"Oh, be quiet," Loki said, letting his hands drop from Kori's shoulders and crossing them. "I can't stand being a child. I can't do anything in this form and no one shows me any respect."

"But it's still cute," Kori informed him. He gave her a dirty look, and she giggled. "You haven't changed inside, though."

Loki shook his head. "Neither have you." He smirked a little. "You're as responsible and kind as ever, eh, 'Onee-chan'?"

Kori moaned. "Oh, be quiet," she told him. Then she laughed, and Loki chuckled too. "We're still the same…" Kori said quietly, still smiling as though she couldn't be happier and taking Loki by the hand. "We're still the same, Loki."

An image of Spica popped into Loki's head, the thought saturated with guilt and discomfort. Still, he smiled at Kori. "For the most part, yes…And considering that that means you survived Geri and Freki, I'm very glad you're the same."

Kori frowned. "Oh, yes…that was scary. I really thought they might hurt my new little brother and sister. Geri fled, but I took out Freki, mostly. Until he ran…Odin's probably healed him by now."

"He underestimated how mean you can be when threatened," Loki said, shaking his head and looking amused. "I would've run like Geri, I think, if I saw you come up to me with a bat while your family was in trouble."

"Don't tease me," Kori said to her 'husband,' chastising him like a child. He laughed at her in a well-meaning sort of way. Kori changed the subject. "Who have you been living with, here on Earth? I made the Hanabusas remember me as a sister who was adopted not too long before their parents died a couple years ago."

Loki hesitated before telling her reluctantly "Well, there's Yamino, who's actually my son the Midgard serpent…I transformed him into a human who's about Shinji or Megumi's age, to act as my legal guardian…and Fenrir's come too, he's in the form of a puppy…and there's our pet, Ecchan, who's a spirit of some sort…and then there's Spica."

"Who's Spica?" Kori asked, completely unassuming.

Loki swallowed, looked away nervously, and then said "She's…well, she's really Angerboda…my first wife."

Kori froze. She stood completely still, staring at Loki with the same blank expression. "Kori…?" Loki inquired, sounding concerned. He slowly waved his hand in front of her eyes, trying to get a reaction. "Kori, are you oka-"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Kori shrieked, flying into a fury and practically sending Loki flying into the wall. "ARE YOU #&ING SERIOUS!?"

"Kori, stop, your siblings will realize I'm not interrogating you about the wolf incident, and that'll cause problems!" Loki said quickly, trying to stall. If there was one thing that had always driven his otherwise perpetually calm and unflappable second wife to the point of murderous rage, it was any mention of her predecessor. She was sure, somehow, that Loki cared for Angerboda more than her because Loki hadn't been being told to choose a wife when he married her.

"They won't be able to hear me! Loki, how could you!?"

"She was the opposite!" Loki hurriedly told her, holding his hands out in front of him in a way that was half defensive and half begging her not to eat him. "She didn't choose to keep from hurting me by not seeing me! She wanted to see me so badly she allowed Odin to curse her, and once the curse was lifted, well, what was I supposed to do, throw her out!? With her kids living with me, and after she'd been through so much!? Kori, I care about you, but Spica's important to me too!"

Kori took several deep breaths, looking into Loki's eyes with an unreadable expression that seemed to make Loki quite uncomfortable. Then she turned away, closed her eyes, and muttered to herself a little. Cautiously, Loki leaned forward a bit closer to her, still holding out his hands like he thought she would attack. He heard her mumble "Curse my rotten luck…you get returned to me, but she's here…"

"That's right…" Loki said, trying to calm her down with his voice. "You have the luck of the gods. Every time you're near someone, or if they interact with you, or if you think of them enough, they experience bizarre luck." He smiled to himself without humor. "You're so close, and you've been thinking about me a lot, I assume, so you've probably influenced my luck quite a bit…this explains so much."

Kori laughed just as humorlessly as Loki had smiled a moment before. Loki took that as a sign that he was safe enough to lower his hands. "Loki, I don't think you get it," Kori told him. "…How it hurts, thinking about Angerboda…she still has her sons, and her freedom, and now she has you…"

"She doesn't 'have' me," Loki informed Kori indignantly. "I'm not an item to own, and neither are Yamino and Fenrir, her children who are living with us. So try and calm down."

Kori didn't look much less upset, so Loki said words he was sure he'd kick himself for eventually, but would keep Kori happy: "You can come over whenever you'd like to see me. You've never actually met Spica, have you? Perhaps you'll be friends." Actually, Loki doubted that his talkative, easily insulted second wife would get along too well with his taciturn, shy first wife, but…

Kori turned back to face Loki. She looked like she thought what he said was too good to be true. "I can come over? Really?"

"Of course you can," Loki said warmly, mentally praying that Spica would be understanding about the situation and Kori could keep herself under control. "You know I can't just say you can't see me right after we actually met again."

"Loki…" Kori murmured, just because she loved the name and the person. She blushed bright red, and leaned forward and began to reach toward him. "My Loki…" Loki didn't reach out himself, but he didn't lean away, either. Her arms were opened like she was going to hug him again…

"Onee-chan!" Megumi's voice rang out, knocking on the door loudly, sending Kori jumping back from Loki as she grew even more flushed in the face. (Loki felt rather relieved and silently thanked Megumi for being thoughtful enough to knock) "Are you done with Loki yet?"

"Y-Yes, Onee-sama! He's done with the questions," Kori said in response as Megumi opened the door. The older girl entered, closely followed by Yamino, who looked at Kori perplexedly, trying to figure out which deity she was.

"I can now assure you," Loki said to Megumi in a professional tone, "that this is a onetime occurrence. I'd explain how it's connected to the other case I mentioned, but I was asked to keep that case entirely confidential, so I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it."

"I will," Megumi assured him, looking like she couldn't be more grateful if she tried. "Um, how should I pay you…?"

Loki smiled. "You're taking time off from your job to talk to us, so I won't keep you. Call me this weekend when you're free, and then we'll discuss payment."

Megumi blinked, nonplussed. "How can you tell I'm..?"

"Because Master Loki's an excellent detective," Yamino said, sounding rather proud. Megumi looked at Yamino, then at Loki, and smiled and nodded.

"Thank you for everything," she said to him with great relief.

"Oh, no," Loki interrupted, glancing back at Kori. "Thank _you_."

((Eheheheh…I'm gonna have a lotta fun with Kori and her siblings! I hope you'll like them too! Review, or I will hunt you down and tape "Kick me" signs to all your shirts!

Asta la pasta, chiao for now, ariba-ducky, people!))


	3. Wife vs Wife

((So, Loki now has to deal with the fact that both his wives are currently on Earth, which is an incredibly awkward situation

((So, Loki now has to deal with the fact that both his wives are currently on Earth, which is an incredibly awkward situation. Hence the reason I'm using it. Time to see what happens when Kori and Spica meet each other!

Oh, and although I forgot to mention it in the last chapter, I still don't own any of the Norse gods, nor am I responsible for coming up with the ideas and situations used in the manga and anime. But I have a plan…meheheh…

And, once again, review shout outs!

Seven Midnights: …I can honestly say that I didn't notice that Kori was an anagram of Loki (as pronounced in Japanese) myself when I chose the name. That is cool! I can be awesome without even trying! Ha ha. Glad you're still reading.

Sabishiiko: First of all, awesome name. Second, thanks for the nice lengthy review, it's always great to get detailed commentary. As for Loki being a 'criminal'…well, personally, I've always thought that, seeing as Loki tended to make amends for his crimes, the punishment for Balder's death was unfair. I mean, having one son killed and the other mutated right before your eyes and then being chained inside a cave with poison dripping in your eyes for eternity? Yeah…that's a bit _harsh_. But, whatever. There'll be more info on that stuff soon enough.

And so, on with the fic!))

About a week had passed since Loki had been reunited with Kori/Siguna. He had not mentioned the identity of the new deity to Spica, Fenrir, or even Yamino, who had been there and met her. Loki was putting off his doom for as long as he possibly could, you see.

But he knew better than to think Kori wasn't going to come eventually, seeing as he'd given her an invitation, albeit a slightly forced one. It was just a matter of time. All he could do was hope Kori would remain calm when she chose to appear and Spica wouldn't get as upset as Kori would if their roles had been reversed.

And sure enough, that afternoon, Loki was sitting in his office contemplating his situation (and how to explain it to Mayura, should she meet Kori in the near future) when he heard the doorbell ring, and when Yamino answered it, Kori's voice called out a greeting to him.

Loki sighed and got up, heading downstairs. "Oh, please, please don't let anything go wrong…" he said, or rather prayed, which was very interesting: who does a god pray to, anyway? Well, I'll leave that question until later. Oh, and although this has nothing to do with anything, Loki's ensemble that day was the jacket, shorts, nice shirt, and boots we see him wear throughout the majority of the anime.

He went down to the main hallway, where Yamino was hanging up Kori's jacket. She was wearing a dressier outfit than before: a pale gray sundress with a long sleeved black shirt underneath and black tights. "Hello, Loki!" Kori said happily, taking off her nice shoes so she wouldn't track dirt into the house.

"It's good to see you again," Loki said, managing to smile without looking nervous by some miracle. "How have things been at your house?"

"Everything's fine, now that you settled the whole wolf thing," Kori assured Loki with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Megumi still thinks she needs a better way to thank you."

"Master Loki, you didn't mention that you'd invited Miss Kori here…" Yamino commented, looking a little surprised. "Or did she drop in on her own without being offered?"

"Oh, no, Loki invited me here," Kori interjected before Loki had a chance to respond. He gulped, preparing for doom that was probably soon to come. "He said I could come whenever I wanted."

"He did?" Yamino asked, slightly stunned. "Not to be rude, but…why?"

Spica entered then, curious about the newcomer, followed by Fenrir and Ecchan. Kori instantly turned her attention to Spica. "Oh-ho, so _you're her_? Angerboda-oh, I mean Spica, now."

Spica glanced at Loki in confusion, and Yamino quickly asked the question that was on all of their minds at that point: "Master Loki, who is she?"

"Oh, you mean he didn't tell you who I really am?" Kori inquired sweetly. She smiled innocently, and Loki flinched, knowing what was going to happen next wouldn't be anything good.

"I am called Kori Hanabusa here on Midgard…" Kori turned back to Spica, her face happy save for a rather jealous look in her dark eyes. "…But I am really Siguna, Loki's wife among the gods. It's good to finally meet my…predecessor."

There was a moment of silence as this sunk in. Fenrir was the first to respond: "Say _what_ now?!"

Kori walked over to him and Spica, and kneeled down to get a better look at the dog. "Hello, Fenrir. You really did get released from your bonds, huh? I'm fine with that; you're not nearly as scary as I remember you in the world of the gods." She petted him on his highly stunned head.

"Master Loki, is she serious?" Yamino said to Loki, looking very uncomfortable and more than a little shocked. Loki nodded, equally ill at ease. "Why didn't you say anything when we were at her house?"

"Because I knew she'd cause a scene," Loki admitted tiredly, shaking his head apologetically. "She's normally very calm, and tactful, but when it comes to Angerboda, Siguna's always had a real complex."

"I do not have a complex," Kori told him, standing up and looking back at him with an annoyed pout. "I just get a little jealous is all."

Loki raised an eyebrow skeptically. "A little?" he repeated.

"Okay, a lot jealous," Kori admitted with a dismissive shrug. "But I don't have a complex."

Spica looked rather hurt by this new course of events, and looked to Loki questioningly, as though hoping he'd say it wasn't really so. Loki couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye, and turned away from everyone in obvious embarrassment.

Kori turned to Spica again, still smiling. "That said, I've decided that I want to be friends with you. For Loki's sake, if not for mine or yours. It'll make things so much more comfortable. I _do_ plan to take advantage of his invitation for me to come over _whenever_ I like, even if he probably just gave it to me to calm me down when I first found out you get to _live_ with him." She held her hand out for a friendly handshake of truce. "What do you say? Live and let live?"

For a second, Spica looked Kori over. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and replied…

"No."

"Wait, what?" Kori asked, still smiling, although a bit less confidently.

Spica did not answer. She merely turned around and walked off toward the kitchen, leaving Kori and the others standing in the hallway. For a minute, there was silence. And then Kori sighed, letting her still extended arm fall to her side limply. "Well, that went about as well as expected." She glanced at Yamino, and then Fenrir, smiling in a way she hoped let them know she was sincere when she told them "I'm sorry I put you in such an awkward situation, but I wanted to be straightforward."

"Uh…it's okay?" Yamino replied hesitantly, obviously at a loss for what to do. Fenrir said nothing but seemed to be seriously considering biting Kori's ankle and not letting go until she had run far, far away from their house and promised to stay away. She noticed this and went over to Loki.

"I really am sorry," she said gently to him. He didn't respond or even turn toward her. Kori looked down at her feet, obviously regretting her rash actions considering Spica. "I meant what I said to her…I want to be her friend. Even if I didn't, I'd try if it would make things easier for you." Still, no response. "Loki…are you listening to me?"

"Yes," he said finally, without emotion. Kori seemed hurt by his tone of voice and stepped back.

"Maybe…I should go home…?" she inquired. Yamino felt sympathetic, and (with the same premonition that he'd regret this that Loki had felt in the last chapter) answered instead of Loki.

"No, it's understandable that things would be awkward, Miss Kori. And after coming here, you should at least stay for a few minutes. Would you like a cup of tea or something?" Loki moved a little, as though he was going to look back at his son but changed his mind. Fenrir stared at Yamino in stunned disbelief. Kori blinked and looked at him slightly skeptically.

"Do you mean that?" she asked. Yamino gave her the warmest smile he could manage and nodded. Kori smiled a little as well in response to his generosity. "Thank you…yes, I'd love a cup of tea, that's very kind of you."

"Oh, come on!" Fenrir shouted, obviously nowhere near as acceptant of the intruder in their lives as his brother. "She comes in here, upsets Spica, starts acting like a whiny kid, and you're gonna treat her like a guest!?"

"Well, Master Loki invited her, so she is a guest," Yamino reasoned evenly. Fenrir shook his head in disgust. Kori glanced in his direction uneasily and edged toward Yamino. He nodded to her in an encouraging sort of way, and then led her to the kitchen.

Ecchan, who had been silent and observed this, floated over to Loki. "Is Master Loki okay?" he said in his squeaky, cooing voice. Loki sighed. Ecchan landed on his head and made his 'munyo munyo' sounds as if hoping to comfort his friend (or whatever those sounds he makes are, I think they sound like 'munyo').

"What the heck is up with that girl, barging in here and acting like that?" Fenrir growled, also coming up to his father but looking back in the direction Yamino and Kori had gone. "What's her problem?"

"Her problem," Loki announced in a rather sad sounding voice, "is that she was married to me and loves me…but is somehow convinced I love Spica more than her. Because it is true that I didn't love her when I married her in the world of the gods, loving her came later. She's insanely jealous. Plus, since Spica gets to live with you and Yamino, who are her sons, it adds another level of envy…she doesn't get to see the one son she has who's still alive, remember? It makes sense that she'd want to express that jealousy."

Fenrir thought about it and seemed to feel a little guilty now about his instant resentment to his…apparent step-mother. "You really care about her, don't you, Daddy?" Fenrir commented, trying to understand Loki's concern.

"Yes, I care about her very much," Loki confirmed, finally turning around. "Which makes it all the more difficult to deal with this dilemma in a rational way." He picked Fenrir up and held him, apparently trying to calm himself down enough to figure out the next course of action that was to be taken without just making everything more chaotic, which was always a possibility with the people _he_ had to deal with.

"It'll work itself out in the end, Daddy," Fenrir assured him, trying to sound like he meant it. "Kori does want to be Spica's friend, so maybe she'll get through to her soon. And Yamino's being nice to her, so maybe he'll help Spica be nice too."

"We can always hope, but even so, I wish I could do something," said Loki in a less than happy tone of voice, petting Fenrir on the head as a sign that he was grateful for his son's attempt to cheer him up.

"Well, it can't get too much worse, can it?" Fenrir said half to himself.

Loki winced. "Don't say that! As soon as you ask if things can get worse-"

The doorbell rang out through the house.

"…They will?" Fenrir finished for his father nervously.

"Yes," Loki said mildly regretfully. "They will."

((Dun dun dun! Looks like things are going to get much more interesting now! Who could be at the door? A client? Mayura? Let's hope it's not Reiya/Freya, or things will get _really_ bad for Loki! If you want to find out who it is that has come with such perfect timing, you'll have to read chapter the fourth!

Later, taters!))


	4. Old Friends, Reunited

((Oh, boy, things aren't looking too good for our favorite god of mischief, are they

((Oh, boy, things aren't looking too good for our favorite god of mischief, are they? What with Kori pretty much making an enemy of Spica right off the bat and some unwanted guest coming to the door at exactly the right (or rather, the wrong) moment. But who might this new addition to my little tale of pandemonium be? Read on to find out! Although this chapter is mildly filler-y…

Oh, and the plan to try and obtain the ownership of the Norse deities has been finalized (ehehehehe), but at this point I own neither them nor the plots and ideas thought up by Sakura Kinoshita.

And I can't forget the shout outs to my lovely reviewers, can I? Well, I can, I suppose, but I won't. Because I am a nice person. Who wants my reviewers to continue reviewing.

Seven Midnights: Glad I made you feel loved for mentioning you.

Melissa Brandybuck: You're welcome you're welcome you're welcome. Oh, and I may use the peace, love and penguins thing in the story at some point…

Neon: Yes, the pairings ARE going to be challenge…I'm rather in favor of LokiMayu myself, but considering he was MARRIED to Spica and Kori…I'm going to play with Loki's conflicting emotions throughout the fic.

Anyway, I assume you came here to read the story, so here ya go.))

Within the kitchen, things were not going nearly so well as Yamino had hoped they would. Spica had helped herself to a snack and was sitting at the table when Kori and Yamino entered, and Kori had taken the seat most convenient to her…a seat right across from Spica. The silence as the two stared at each other was positively deafening, and Yamino hoped that the phrase "glaring daggers" really was only metaphorical, or else one of the girls would surely end up dead within moments.

He fixed the tea for Kori hurriedly, not wanting to leave the pair unsupervised for any longer than he had to for fear they would start something (although what they would start was completely beyond him…both girls were quite calm natured, he could tell of Kori and knew of Spica, so he had trouble thinking of exactly what they would do to each other).

Just as he placed the cup of tea before Kori and broke the girls' eye contact when Kori turned to give him a grateful nod, the doorbell rang and practically gave all of them heart attacks. Spica had been leaning forward and shot up straight in her chair with a bang. Kori yelped, sounding slightly like a startled puppy. And Yamino jumped and accidentally spilled the tea.

Quickly, he moved Kori's chair (and therefore Kori) away from the table before the hot liquid dripped onto her lap, and then he righted the cup. "I'm sorry," he said embarrassedly, his heart still a little messed up from the sudden jolt. _Wonderful, just what we need, more people!_ He thought, locating a washcloth and wiping up the mess. _As if this couldn't get any more difficult…who could it possibly be?_

"This…is very, very awkward," Kori said, half to herself, obviously trying to somehow make the tense atmosphere more bearable. Yamino nodded in agreement, and Spica looked away.

Kori's face took on a look of regret and her head fell sullenly. "You really hate me, don't you?" she asked, not needing to state who the comment was addressed to.

Yamino couldn't help but say to Kori "Um, I kinda thought **you** were the one who hated **her**…"

Kori shook her head, looking slightly insulted. "Of course not, I can't hate someone I don't even know! I just hate…that when I think of her, I really think Loki likes her more. I'm jealous, not hateful."

Spica seemed to consider this, but, as per usual, said nothing. Kori noticed this and sighed. "You won't even talk to me."

"Spica is decidedly mute," Yamino informed their guest. "She rarely speaks to anyone. It's not something she's doing just to spite you."

"It's not?" asked Kori in surprise, apparently having trouble imagining someone decidedly not speaking to anyone, seeing as she could never go even a day without getting a word in. "She doesn't talk?"

Yamino shook his head.

"Not even to you or Fenrir?"

"Not really."

"Not even to _Loki_?"

"Very rarely, if ever."

Kori stood still for a moment, absorbing the fact that she was trying to befriend a girl who would never respond in speech to her comments. That was sort of new for her. She was used to interacting with people who were all too loud, from her foster siblings on Midgard to certain people within Asgard, not that she'd probably see the one she was thinking about any time soon…(foreshadowing here!)

She opened her mouth again to speak, perhaps to apologize for accusing Spica of hating her, but was interrupted when the one who'd rung the doorbell burst in with an unceremonious greeting of "Hey, Spica! Hey, Four-Eyes! What's for lunch?"

Yamino withheld a moan of agitation. Of all the times to show up, he chose _now_.

(Betcha can't guess who it is, can ya? Can ya? …well, hell, at least one of you got in right. I suppose it's a good thing that I can actually keep the characters in character enough so that, even before he appears, you know that the mystery guest is…)

"Narugami, good day," Yamino said to the mighty thunder god in his not-quite-as-mighty-but-still-pretty-damn-tough human form. "But your job…"

"Oh, I'm only working weekdays now, so I'm good since today's Saturday," Narugami said matter-of-factly. He nodded a greeting to Spica, and only then did he notice Kori, who had stood up from her chair and was gazing at Narugami in surprise. A look of confusion slowly crept across his face as he looked back into the girl's dark eyes. "Do I…know you, by any chance?" he hesitantly inquired.

Kori nodded slowly. "If you're who I think you are, than yes…although you look a lot different." She looked at him a little longer, than questioningly called him by his real name: "Thor?"

Narugami couldn't help but smirk a little. "The one and only. Now let's see if I can guess who you are…hmm…" Narugami thought for a bit, that magnificent brain of his (note that the previous statement should be taken as sarcasm) working quite hard to decipher this child's real identity. "Well, you're a god, er, goddess, I guess…"

Kori rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Thank you, Captain Obvious. Would you like a medal?"

Narugami blinked at the jibe, seeming to have a flash of insight as to the answer to his question. "Only one person ever uses that taunt when they're talking to me…" A grin suddenly cut across his face. "Siguna, is that you?!"

"Give the man a prize!" Kori said happily, smiling herself and suddenly appearing far more comfortable. "I'm going by Kori Hanabusa, now. You're name here is Narugami?"

"Yeah, except for Loki. He calls me Narukami."

"Narukami? Oh, I get it, like kaminari, for thunder! Ha ha!"

"Actually, I think he's making fun of me because I'm really a god."

"Narukami! I'm calling you that too."

"Please don't, it gets really annoying."

"Well, maybe I won't…"

Yamino and Spica exchanged looks. Of course they'd know each other. They both used to be Asgardians, after all. But they did seem quite friendly. "You two are good friends, I'm guessing?" Yamino commented.

Narugami glanced at him as though he'd forgotten he was there (knowing him, he probably did). "Well, kinda. Siguna was always closer to my wife Sif than to me, but we do get along really well. I guess we're sort of like family."

"We were…" Kori said contemplatively. "Until Vali…happened."

"Vali," Yamino repeated, just stating the name of his half brother, the elder son of Loki and Siguna, without turning it into a question or anything. He couldn't quite bring himself to look at Spica, his mother, who would have every reason the hate that name. Because there was a good chance that, despite what Kori had said, the two girls did loathe each other, which would give Spica a reason to despise Vali by association.

Narugami didn't notice Yamino's reaction, and Kori seemed unwilling to react if she did. The former simply grinned weakly. "Okay, so your son pretty much made it his mission in life to torture Thrud. That didn't affect us…too much."

"Yes, yes it did," Kori corrected him. Then she glanced over at Yamino and Spica, who had been very silent, and elaborated. "My son Vali was very attention hungry. Narugami-Thor-had a daughter named Thrud who didn't like Vali too much and ignored him sometimes. That made Vali quite angry, and he got his revenge by basically insulting and taunting her at every available opportunity, sometimes to the point where she'd beat him up. He'd never fight back because he didn't like hitting girls, but he would come up with every vile name and slight against her that he could think of…and my Vali could think up quite a lot."

"He sounds like…an interesting person," Yamino responded slowly.

Narugami chuckled rather meanly. "Yeah, and you're the lucky guy who's related to him, Four-Eyes."

A glare from both Kori and Spica shut the thunder god up quite quickly. "It's true that Vali could be cruel," Kori informed everyone in the room, "but he wasn't a bad person. He was kind to most people, and very friendly and clever. And he was talented and fast on his feet."

"Well, I imagine he was a fast runner if he always had one of Thor's children mad at him," Yamino said just loud enough for the others to hear. Kori gave him a withering look, whereas Spica sniggered and Narugami laughed loudly. Yamino smiled weakly. "Sorry, Miss Kori, but it had to be said."

Kori thought for a moment, and then sighed. "I suppose so," she admitted. "I mean, you can't be expected to like someone you don't know."

"But you can dislike them," Yamino said pointedly, obviously trying to point out a flaw in Kori's logic. Kori didn't answer, merely shrugged and plainly sent a look of mixed respect and disapproval at Spica, who returned it with a vengeance. Narugami's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered what Loki had told him a few days earlier when Narugami had demanded an explanation to why this new girl had insistently begun to impede on his own rations when he wanted to bum food off of Loki. He had been given the truth: Spica was an ice giantess and therefore had to eat as much as a giantess or she'd collapse.

She was also Loki's spouse, in their former life outside of Midgard. And so was Kori. Meaning these two were _not_ destined to get along right away, if ever.

"Oh, boy," Narugami mumbled, trying to think of a way out of this situation now that he knew it was indeed a situation. After a moment, he chose to try and get the guy who was really the cause of this to settle things. "Hey, Loki and Daidoji hurry up!" he yelled out the door of the kitchen into the front hallway.

Yamino didn't look pleased by this. "Miss Mayura's here too?!" he asked rhetorically, a distinct nervous edge to his voice. "Oh, no, how in the world are we going to explain this to her?!"

((And so ends chapter the fourth, which…was impossible to find a good place to end at, so I'm sorry if it's kinda…well, bad. Anyway, I bet you didn't realize that Mayura had tagged along, huh? Well, what else would keep Loki in the hallway that long? And how are they going to explain Kori and her dislike of Spica to our dimwitted human friend? Find out in the epic fifth chapter of this fic!

Oh, and for those who don't know, the characters Vali and Thrud do exist in Norse mythology, Vali being Loki's first son with Siguna (mentioned several times before) and Thrud being the younger of Thor's two daughters with his wife Sif. Each is only mentioned in one myth, so I'm seriously expanding their personalities and stuff. There is nothing in any of the myths that says Vali really did pretty much start a vendetta against Thrud. I made it up myself.

Also, in case you don't get the stuff with Narugami's name, the explanation is that it's a pun. Narugami, if you change the G to a K, becomes Naru_kami_, kami meaning god. Turn the U to an I and mix it up a little as well, and it becomes kaminari, or thunder. So, by turning the G into a K, you effectively turn Thor's assumed name into a joke. In the Japanese version of the show and in the manga, Loki constantly calls Narugami 'Narukami.' I like the joke and the sound of it, so I kept it in the fic. Loki will keep referring to Narugami by the nickname, and a few others will bring it up too. Anyway, that's it for now, but I hope to have the next chapter up in a couple weeks tops!))


	5. Total Filler and Haunting Hawks

((Ah, so I've made it to the epic fifth chapter of my story, and we've barely even scratched the surface

((Ah, so I've made it to the epic fifth chapter of my story, and we've barely even scratched the surface! Barely introduced any of the characters I created for your enjoyment! Maybe I'm in over my head…we'll see soon enough.

Speaking of people being in over their heads, it doesn't look like things are about to calm down at Loki's. I mean, come on, Mayura never makes things go any more smoothly. And it's not like Kori needs to be given anyone else to get jealous over. So, let's see how things turn out.

Also, I'm going to go through with my plan to become the owner of the Norse gods quite soon, but at the present time I don't have any say over them. Nor will I ever have say over anything created by Sakura Kinoshita.

And if the chapter is a little off/short, it's because I wrote the whole thing, realized it would make it harder to work things out later in the story, and had to rewrite the whole thing. There was no really decent way to end it unless I made it a long, generally useless schmeal, so I end it a bit short. My apologies!

Oh, yeah, review shout-outs!

Seven Midnights: Maybe Mayura's last name is spelled differently, but it doesn't really matter. And Thrud won't be coming in for a while yet, but she'll be cool when she does, even if the only things known about her are that she's Thor's daughter and that she almost got forced into marriage with a dwarf…

Melissa Brandybuck: I haven't used it yet, obviously. I'll probably have the crazy character I'm introducing in the sixth chapter say it.

Phantome101: Yeah, the idea of Mayura being Siguna's incarnation is common, hence why I chose NOT to use it. And I'm not sure if Vali and Narvi are twins, but for the sake of the story, Narvi is younger.

YuukiHaruka: You have the time to make a random blog but not to read my fic?! I know you in real life, for crying out loud! REVIEW OR DIE!

Okay, onto the friggin' chapter…))

No one answered Yamino's question, because mere seconds after he asked it the girl in question came into the room, as chipper as ever. Even more so, actually, seeing as she'd been even happier than before since Loki had come back and therefore assured Mayura she wasn't about to lose one of the most important people in her life.

"Hey, guys! How's it going?" she said to them all, beaming. She smiled even more warmly at Kori. "Hello, you must be that girl Loki was just telling me about, the old friend he ran into during a case. Small world, huh?"

Kori blinked, than regained her composure and nodded, returning Mayura's happy smile. Inwardly, she was surprised at herself for not thinking Loki could come up with a way to solve the problem of explaining her presence. He was once the god of those who tricked others: of course he'd find a way to deceive this child!

Although she supposed there were better ways to put it than 'deceived'…And seeing as Mayura was 'older' than Kori, "child" probably wasn't the best word to use.

"Yes, I'm Kori," she said to the peppy teenager before her. "Who're you?"

"I'm Mayura Daidoji, Loki's assistant," she introduced herself.

"My _self-proclaimed_ assistant," Loki corrected, following her in. "I've never referred to you in any such way. You're the one who barged into my house and started talking about your strange mysteries."

"Aw, Loki, don't be mean!" whined Mayura. Kori withheld a snigger. This girl was so childish…but if she wasn't Loki's assistant…who was she, really? Kori wondered.

"Good afternoon, Miss Mayura," Yamino greeted her, very much relieved that Loki had prevented the situation from getting any more out of control (not that it really was out of control yet, but still). "Don't tell me; you're here for a mystery, aren't you?"

"Yeppers!" Mayura confirmed. "As always. But Loki says he doesn't have any cool cases today, which sucks. He hasn't had a case in ages, except the one where he met Kori again, and he didn't invite me to come along! I need mysteries!" By the end of that, Mayura was really starting to act melodramatic.

"Yeah, yeah, cases, blah blah blah, I came for food," Narugami interrupted, suddenly remembering how hungry was and not particularly impressed by Mayura's silliness. "What's for lunch, Four-Eyes?"

Any answer to the question was cut off. "Narugami, that's rude!" Kori told Narugami in the kind of voice a parent might use to scold a child. "You shouldn't call people names or mooch food off of them!"

Narugami was surprised: no one had made an effort to stop him from either of these practices before. He'd forgotten, he realized, that even though Kori's entire being seemed to be defined by Loki sometimes, she was actually a pretty tough person, perfectly capable of holding her own. He wasn't the only one in the room who was surprised by this turn of events: everyone seemed rather shocked that someone was criticizing the former thunder god…and that, amazingly, he actually seemed to be taking her critique seriously! (Not that Mayura knew that Narugami was Thor, of course, but it was still pretty unexpected)

"Hey, I don't make much money," Narugami informed her, trying to defend himself. "I can just barely afford my apartment. Getting food for free here is a necessity!"

"Than take it with gratitude," Kori suggested to him, putting her hands on her hips in a way that showed she meant business. "Thank the guy who makes it, and don't make fun of him! If you need it so much, don't be such a jerk about it. And you should say sorry for being rude, while you're at it!"

_Is Siguna suggesting what I think she's suggesting? Me? Thor? __**Thank**__ the Midgard serpent, who all the myths declare my mortal enemy? Me, Narugami, apologize to Four-Eyes?_ "Are you kidding me?!" Narugami finally asked, getting annoyed by Kori's demands of him.

"Do I look like I'm kidding to you?" Kori asked him, and the stern look on her pretty little face clearly meant she was serious. "Thank him and apologize!" Narugami didn't look like he was about hurry and do as she said. "DO IT! NOW!"

And then Narugami, the mighty storm god who had beaten thousands of giants and monsters in battle and was one of the most famous of all the gods…put up his hands in defeat and acknowledged this little girl before him as the winner of the argument. "Okay, okay! Whatever! Thanks and sorry!"

Kori shook her head. "Not to me!" she reminded him. "To Yamino!" (Yamino, for the record, was the most shocked out of the group by Kori's outburst, and he didn't look too comfortable when Kori dragged him into this by name)

Narugami seemed sick at the prospect. "You're kidding."

"I wasn't kidding thirty seconds ago, and I'm not kidding now." Kori pointed to Yamino, who visibly flinched at being even more directly brought into the argument. "Apologize to him, not to me. Right now."

Narugami looked at Yamino. If the Midgard serpent's face had been holding even the slightest hint of satisfaction about this, Narugami would have continued to refuse. But it was plain to see that Yamino wasn't enjoying this situation any more than Narugami. Faults aside, the latter did have a keen sense of fair play, and as such he was able to address the former without blaming him for this too much. "Thanks for the food. Sorry about the Four-Eyes thing," he mumbled eventually, just barely loud enough to be heard. Everyone was stunned, except Kori, who looked contented, and Narugami, who looked slightly ashamed.

"Er…apology accepted," Yamino said after a second of silence. "Um, I think I'll make lunch now…how's ramen sound to everyone?"

There was a smattering of agreements made simply for lack of anything better to say. Yamino went to make it, closely followed by Spica (who, although characteristically silent, had still been there the whole time). Narugami moaned and leaned against the wall, looking miserable. "What kind of devil _are_ you?" he asked Kori.

"You're guess is as good as mine!" Kori responded happily, feeling triumphant. Thor was tough, but with the right people and enough perseverance, you could make him fold like a lawn chair. And Kori just happened to be one of those people.

"I found that quite impressive," Loki announced, putting Fenrir (who was still in his arms) on the floor and approaching Kori. He patted her on the shoulder as if to congratulate her on a job well done. "I've wanted to do that myself, but I figured Narukami wouldn't listen to me just because I annoy him."

"You should try to tone the annoying thing down, you know…" Kori said thoughtfully, giving Loki a meaningful look. Loki's eyes widened fearfully and he backed up quickly, hardly looking pleased with the idea that Kori might start on him now that she was done with Narukami. She giggled at his expression. "But we can deal with that later."

"Don't scare me like that!" Loki told her in an irritated way. She giggled again.

Loki wasn't the only one who was impressed. "Wow, you stood up to Narugami even though he's so much bigger than you!" Mayura exclaimed, rather amazed. "I wouldn't have had the guts to do that when I was your size. You're a tough kid, aren't you?" Kori seemed pleased with the praise, but she didn't comment on it herself. She just smirked a little in a way that wasn't boastful, but wasn't exactly humble either.

Narugami, to his credit, wasn't complaining about the attention Kori was getting or denying her accusations. Of course, after being told off by a little kid, he wasn't exactly in a hurry to bring attention to him.

…um…

Very little of what happened in the following hour or so needs to be told to you, dear reader, as it was actually rather uneventful. Lunch was made and eaten, conversations were had, Kori had to tell off Narugami a second time when he slipped and accidentally called Yamino "Four-Eyes" again, and Mayura talked them all half to death of aliens and ghosts. When it was done, Kori went off back home, and before long Mayura and Narugami followed suit. As said, it was uneventful.

What you probably _will_ be interested to learn is that these uneventful events were being observed by someone other than you and me. None of the people eating lunch, not even Loki, were aware of it. The two not-quite-people in this story, however, were very much aware of the unsettling feeling that they were being watched. It wasn't too long before Fenrir and Ecchan wandered outside to try and investigate (they weren't really noticed by anyone, either).

Still, neither the dog nor the strange spiritual thingamawatzit had the longest attention span, and they couldn't find any sign of an intruder, so it wasn't long before they went back in. Still, Fenrir was somehow sure he'd caught the scent of something bad…but he couldn't tell where it was any more…

The spy, a large, handsome hawk, perched on a tree just out of the two creatures' sight and scent, watched them go inside. Through the kitchen window it observed a little longer, long enough only to get a few more good looks at Kori, and then it flew away back to its master, who it knew would be most intrigued with this new player in the game…

((Yeah…these past three chapters were thought out in my mind like one, continuous episode of the anime, but that would've been one long chapter, and I only have so much time and patience. So, it got split into these three, the last of which (this one I just finished) being rather…well, bad. Still, I thought Kori was becoming too weak a character, so I felt a tiny bit of character development pushing her away from that would be beneficial.

Anyway, please be gentle in your reviews…I promise the next few chapters will be better. They'll have some action, too, and some more looking into Loki and Kori's relationship back in the world of the gods! See you then!))


	6. Green Girls and Jealousy

((So, yeah, after a string of chapters I felt were rather sub-par, I think I'm back into the groove

((So, yeah, after a string of chapters I felt were rather sub-par, I think I'm back into the groove. I have a general idea of what's going to happen and where the chapter splits are going to occur over the next three or four chapters, and the chapter afterwards is going to be a chapter devoted to humor, so you have something to look forward to!

Unfortunately, my plan to obtain license of the Norse gods not only failed spectacularly, but also resulted in the explosion of my brother's car, several lawsuits in languages I don't understand, and some other general chaos and pandemonium. So, no, I don't own the Norse gods. Nor do I own any character or plot made by Sakura Kinoshita.

And, as always, review shout outs:

Gemini Artemis: Thanks for the long review, I love those! I'm glad you enjoy. When I characterized Kori with her insane jealousy, I didn't consider it annoying, but that's an interesting insight…I've had people mention the ANs I put in too. Usually they're meant to be little jokes, my own personal commentary, or just things that bug me (for some reason I _really_ feel the need to describe what a character's wearing), but I'm going to try to stop it. And at this point, I'm pretty sure it'll be MayuLoki, but stories can turn out to go ways I don't expect them to even when I'm the one writing them.

YuukiHaruka: Yes, I am happy. For now, anyway. As for the hawk's master…I'll give you a hint, since it was supposed to be obvious: which character tends to have a bird of prey nearby him?

Seven Midnights: Glad you liked the ending. Kori's telling off Narugami was partially because I love Yamino and don't like seeing him made fun of (this following chapter is going to be torture to write…) and partially because I felt Kori was becoming too weak a character.

Now, to the sixth chapter! AWAY!))

"No offence, Spica, but you're going to eat us out of house and home!" Loki said to his companion. A couple days had passed since Kori had stopped by the house and somehow made everyone feel that something chaotic had occurred when it really hadn't. Now he was assisting Yamino and Spica with shopping at a local outdoor market. His complaining was less about Spica and more about the amount of food they had to buy, which was making Loki have to carry two bags of vegetables that weighed about two-thirds of his own body weight.

Yamino didn't seem to mind the huge load of cargo he, Spica, and Loki had to purchase, and didn't really respond to Loki's complaint. He was busy going over a mental check list of what had to be bought. Spica merely smiled apologetically to Loki and made a move to take one of the bags he carried.

Loki avoided it. "You're already carrying two bags, I can handle this!" he told her, immediately afterwards having to quickly shift his arms so he could carry the groceries comfortably and still see what was in front of him. Spica smiled to herself at the sight: Loki looked very much like a proud little child, which was pretty amusing when one knew his real identity.

Because of the distraction, Spica didn't notice a crack in the sidewalk and found herself tripping over it. She regained her balance just barely, but a few pieces of fruit fell from her bag.

"Are you okay, Spica?" Loki asked her. Upon seeing her nod, he exchanged a look with Yamino as they both tried to think of a way to pick up the fruit without putting down their bags.

They were saved by a familiar figure with dark hair, blue eyes, and black clothes. "Long time, no see!" Kori said to them with a grin, wandering up to them from seemingly nowhere and putting the fruit in Spica's bag for them. The girls notably didn't make eye contact as she did. Kori turned her smile to Loki. "The luck of the gods?"

"Perhaps," he answered with a shrug that almost made him drop his bags. Kori giggled at him, which he pointedly ignored. "Either that or you're stalking me."

"Ha ha. We're just shopping and I thought I heard you is all."

"We?"

"I'm only about nine right now, Loki, I can't go shopping alone," Kori reminded him, aware that he probably thought about the new age differences with the gods as little as possible, maybe even forgetting how young they now were from time to time. "I'm here with Onee-sama and Onee-san. Megumi and Midori."

"Midori?" Yamino repeated rather nervously. Loki glanced up at him. The look on his face implied that Yamino had not only met Midori, but was still having _nightmares_ about her. Loki, having not met the girl when he visited the Hanabusa house, wasn't sure why.

He found out momentarily. "Onee-chaaaaaaaan!" called out a sing-song voice from behind. Turning to see, Loki caught sight of a very interesting person coming towards them.

She looked to be a couple years younger than Mayura, and skinny as a twig. Her features were pointed and straight, save for round, hazel-green eyes. Her skin was a light bronze color, obviously obtained at a tanning salon. But the most noticeable part of her appearance was…the _green_. The girl was obviously obsessed with the color! Her tee-shirt? Green. Her sneakers? Green. Her jeans? Green. Her many bracelets, necklaces, and bangles? Green. What was particularly stunning was her hair, though: she had apparently taken it upon herself to color every individual lock of curly hair with a separate shade of green dye, resulting in hair that was every shade of green you can imaging and several that you can't no matter how hard you try.

"It's your detective and his friend and…someone else I haven't seen yet!" Midori announced when she reached the group. She looked at Loki. "Hi, Kori's detective!" She looked at Spica. "Hi, person I haven't seen yet!" She grinned at Yamino, getting as close to him as she could while his shopping bags shielded him and he leaned further away from her. "Hi, you!"

"Um, hi?" the latter responded, looking anything but comfortable with this verdant child invading his personal space and threatening to make him drop his load. She didn't seem to notice his embarrassment. "Er, could you back up a bit?"

Midori pouted at him but took a few steps back, to Yamino's obvious relief. Loki thought he could see what Yamino's nervousness was about: this girl had a blatant crush on him. But why? Maybe she just liked the color of his hair and eyes…

Kori smiled apologetically at Loki, then Yamino, and then turned to Midori with an expectant look on her face. "Well? Didn't Megumi tell you to say something next time you say Yamino?"

Midori had to think for a second, but then blinked in understanding. "Oh, yeah! Sorry about what I did to you when you came over to our house the other day. I didn't think you'd fall down."

"Fall down?" Loki repeated. "What _did_ you do?"

Yamino shot Loki a look that practically screamed "Don't ask her!" But it was too late. Midori grinned and raced around behind Yamino. "I wanted to get a better look at his pretty hair color, so I did this!" And she grabbed him by the ponytail and yanked Yamino, who was a good foot taller than this small girl, down to her eye level. Hard. Causing Yamino to react the way most people would. That is to say, he shouted, lost his balance, and fell to the ground, dropping his bags and sending the contents spilling out everywhere.

Midori let go of Yamino's hair and squealed in embarrassment and guilt. "I did it again! Midori is sorry, so sorry!" He didn't answer, just sat up and sighed, rubbing the back of his head with a pained look on his face.

Painful though that had to be, Loki had to restrain a laugh. No wonder Yamino had been so very nervous anbout this kid having a crush on him! Midori was an accident waiting to happen…or rather, one that just _had_ happened. "And you live with this?" Loki asked Kori quietly, smirking at her. She gave him a dirty look.

"I'm bad at this game…" Midori moaned, trying to help Yamino up as he himself tried to get up without letting her touch him.

"Game?" Loki said, glancing questioningly at Kori.

The dark eyed girl shrugged. "Nearly everything is a game to Midori. Just ignore her."

"Will she let us?" Loki asked. That just earned him another shrug. "Whatever."

Megumi came over, expertly carrying not two but four bags of groceries at once. "You two ditched me to make trouble?" she said to Midori and Kori, glaring. Then she saw Yamino, who had just gotten up and was brushing himself off. "Oh, no, she did it again, didn't she?" she asked embarrassedly. Yamino immediately tried to tell Megumi it was no big deal, but was having trouble over the sound of Midori's protests.

Loki rolled his eyes, then put down his bags and picked up some of the stuff Yamino had dropped. "Let's help Yamino with his-"

Loki cut himself off, having caught sight of someone he didn't exactly think was the best person to show up when he was with both of his former wives: little Reiya Oshima as the luck of the gods would have it, was wandering over at that very moment, having not yet caught sight of Kori or Spica because her eyes were only for Loki. He quickly shoved what he picked up into Kori's arms, standing before her in a way that shielded her from Reiya's sight as he did so. "On second thought, I gotta go talk to someone, _you_ help Yamino, would you? Thanks!" And he bolted over to Reiya.

"Hi, Loki!" She said to him happily. She hadn't seen the other girls, and so she was able to be very, very pleased with how hurriedly Loki had come over to her. "I was going for a walk, and you and Yamino always shop here, so I came here so I could try to find you. I haven't seen you for a few days."

"I know, I've been wondering why," Loki said, moving her away from the others in a manner that was subtle enough for Reiya not to notice…he did NOT want Freya to pop up and make a mess of things.

Unfortunately, he underestimated how keen Kori and Spica would be to follow him and try to find out what was what. Keeping just behind him, ducking behind random stands and carts (most of which had been abandoned for lunch breaks, fortunately) and as such staying just out of sight. "Spica, do you know why Loki's so nervous about that girl?" Kori whispered after a few sneaky minutes.

Spica nodded slowly, a rather unhappy look on her face. "Is she a goddess?" Kori continued. Again, a nod. "Do you know which one?" Another nod, this one decidedly annoyed. "You don't like her? Why not?"

Spica simply motioned to Loki and Reiya, and Kori noticed how closely the girl stood to Loki, and how happy she was to be near him…she felt her insides begin to boil with envy, a highly uncomfortable feeling she'd never been able to fight off when another pretty girl showed signs of being close to Loki. It was ironic that, once upon a time, before she and Loki were married, Kori had been the only goddess who hadn't obsessed over the handsome deity…that had come _after_ the marriage, she thought to herself with some dark amusement.

"So who is this, than?" Kori inquired. To her amazement, Spica answered her out loud.

"It's Freya."

The shock from being actually spoken to kept the actual statement from sinking in for a second, but when it did, Kori's face first paled, then flushed with fury. "HER?! Of all the goddesses to run into, it had to be that bimbo?! Are you kidding me?! Tell me you're kidding me!" Kori knew, of course, that this couldn't be a lie, and Spica knew she knew it, and as such didn't respond.

Kori stewed for another minute or so, watched the girl who was really Freya smile at Loki and get one of his flawless smiles in return. "Imma kill that girl someday…" she mumbled to herself, not seriously, but more just to vent her distress with the development. Louder, to Spica, she asked another question: "So what do we do about her now?"

((Yes, I know, this chapter is slightly pointless, but the next one will be one of my better ones, followed by a chapter of pure action and then a spoof chapter or two. All of which will be posted before too long, because no more school will give me much more time…this one took forever due to exams. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, please review, and be ready of the next one, coming to a near you!

Also, be sure to give me your opinions on Midori, she's one of my favorite characters to write and will be included regularly if she isn't too annoying!))


	7. For Loki! Freya vs Kori!

((Okay, so last time we checked in, Kori and Spica were spying on Loki and Reiya, and Kori's jealous ways were starting to get the better of her (they usually do)

((Okay, so last time we checked in, Kori and Spica were spying on Loki and Reiya, and Kori's jealous ways were starting to get the better of her (they usually do). Also, Yamino was last seen in the presence of a kooky green girl and her (fortunately) much more mature older sister. Not that they're really going to play a part in this chapter.

Anyway, no, for the seventh time now, I do not own the Norse gods, nor do I have any say over the characters and plots come up with by Sakura Kinoshita.

Review shout outs!

Gemini Artemis: Ah, another long review, thank you muchly. I'm not sure "team up" is the best way to describe Spica and Kori's relationship when it comes to Reiya/Freya, but it does distract them (or at least one of them) from being envious of one another. Midori will definitely end up really liking Yamino from what I've planned, but whether it'll be requited is another matter I haven't decided upon. And I'm sorry you dislike the planned pairing. I can honestly say I'm not the world's biggest fan of the pairing either, but It seems to suit them, somehow, in my mind. Still, there's a chance it'll turn out differently.

Seven Midnights: Kori's reaction was just what I thought she'd do, it wasn't meant to be funny. And yes, I will try to make Yamino get a bit less passive as the story goes on just because I hate seeing him getting, well, walked on.

Okay, story time! Sit in a circle on the story-time rug, children, and we'll get started…))

Loki was trying, really trying, to pay attention to Reiya as she told some little story about what had happened to her in the past few weeks she hadn't seen Loki. But it was difficult, because Loki knew better than to think Kori really would've listened to him when he told her to stay. He was positive he heard her whispering a few feet behind him and Reiya. But why would she be whispering? The only explanation Loki could come up with was that Kori wasn't alone. But who would spy with her? Spica was the first person to come to mind. Which was _just_ what he needed, both of his wives stalking him because he was talking to another girl…although there was more to it than that, of course…

"Loki, are you listening?" Reiya asked him suddenly, and he jumped a little as he left his reverie. She was looking at him curiously and a little disappointedly too.

He quickly tried to make up for being so distant with apologies. "I'm so sorry, Reiya, I've been distracted lately. Forgive me for drifting off. What was it you were saying?"

Reiya smiled understandingly at him. "It's okay, it wasn't important," she told him. "I just really like talking to you, that's all. You're usually a really good listener."

Loki heard a hiss behind him, similar to that hiss of a cat when it's angry. That, he knew, was actually Kori, hissing in rage that this little girl who was really Freya felt she had the right to act so close to Loki…and, of course, anger at Loki for not stopping her. _I'll deal with that later,_ he decided.

"Um, Loki?" Reiya said slowly, starting to blush for some reason.

"Yes?"

"Uh, I know this is a little…well, I was just…wondering…how old do you think two people have to be to have a date?" Reiya asked him with a slight stutter. Fortunately, she didn't hear the distinct hiss behind her, louder and more furious than the first.

Loki heard it, but felt he had no choice but to ignore it. In response to Reiya's question, he thought for a second, and then said "I'm not sure. I suppose it depends on the people, and their guardians' wishes…I assume it's sometime after they've both turned into teenagers." He couldn't help but glance at her with a playful smile and comment "We're certainly too young for a date, I'm only about…ten, and you're a year younger, correct?"

Reiya blushed an extraordinary shade of red when he said that. "Er, that's…it's not…I'm sorry, Loki!"

"Calm down, it's fine!" Loki assured her, noting the extreme difference between Reiya and the goddess who had been forced into her body. Sometimes he felt bad for Reiya, having to share a body with Freya, but then he remembered that she would have died if Odin hadn't saved her for that purpose, and he stopped regretting the turn of events.

"Hmm..." he said, acting thoughtful, figuring it was best not to test Kori's self control anymore and that he should get away. "You know, I never told Yamino I was going to walk off with you. He might be worried…Reiya, how long have you been walking along on your own? Your care givers might be concerned, too."

Reiya thought for a second. "I've been out for a while, so maybe…are you saying you're going to go now?"

"Pretty much," Loki replied with a shrug, inserting just enough disappointment in his tone to keep Reiya happy without making Kori hiss again.

"Oh, okay…" Reiya said, looking acceptant but a little let down. "Bye then…um, are you sure…about the…dating…thing?"

_That _made Kori hiss, but Loki said over it "Yes, definitely. Sorry. I'll see you later." He turned and began to walk away, wanting to stop and glare at Kori when he passed but knowing Reiya would be watching him until he was out of sight…

Not that it mattered. Because Kori wanted very much to confront Freya but knew it wasn't wise, and when Kori wanted to do something but was too smart to do it…her luck typically made it happen. And this was no exception to that rule.

Loki was just walking by the stand Kori and Spica were hiding behind when he heard a distinct rumbling sound coming from their direction. He stopped dead in his tracks, all too aware of where this was probably going, and slowly turned toward the sound…and was instantly beaned by a watermelon. Because, lo and behold, an inconveniently placed pile of watermelons just happened to suddenly collapse right then, sending the melons flying right towards Loki, and Kori and Spica. And while none of them were seriously hurt when they all got hit in the head, the three all fell over onto the ground right in front of a very surprised Reiya Oshima.

"Ow…" Loki moaned, and tried to get up, but he couldn't, he discovered, due to the fact that Kori had fallen on one of his arms and Spica, the other, effectively pinning him to the ground. Meaning he had to girls basically on top of him right in front of Reiya…or rather, in front of Freya, for the girl was swiftly changing form.

Quickly Loki pushed Kori and Spica, who were pretty stunned and having trouble getting back together. "Get up, get up!" he told them hurriedly, trying to get them out of harms way.

Too late. Freya was officially in control, and she grabbed the girls by their shirt collars, hoisted them off of Loki, and hurled them into a nearby shopping stall. That, as Kori's luck would have it, was selling blankets, so they had a soft landing. Not that Freya noticed.

"Loki, are you okay!?" she cried, picking him up gently, setting him down on his feet, then kneeling to brush the dirt off of his clothes for him. "That looked like it hurt…and then those inconsiderate girls landed on you!"

"It wasn't their-" Loki began.

"Who're you calling inconsiderate!?" Kori shrieked, hopping out of the blanket stall while Spica quickly picked up a few blankets they'd knocked down before following. "YOU'RE the one who threw us, lady!"

Freya looked over at Kori, examining her with a suspicious eye. "I think I know you…which goddess are you?"

Kori slapped herself internally. Dammit, in her anger she'd forgotten that Freya wouldn't react well to seeing _her_, of all people. Perhaps it was a sign that friendship was possible that Kori was honestly relieved that Freya wouldn't recognize Spica and therefore probably wouldn't attack.

Kori didn't have it so well off. Freya suddenly grew bright red with fury and screamed "SIGUNA, YOU LITTLE WITCH, WHAT ARE _YOU_ DOING HERE!?"

The response that first came into Kori's mind was _Look who's talking, that's MY husband you're all over, hands off!_ The response that came out of her mouth, fortunately, wasn't that. It was "I came to go shopping with my foster sisters and thought I heard Loki, so I came over here. Why are you here and why were you in that little girl's form, Freya?"

"That's not what I meant! Why are you in Midgard!?" Freya demanded, pointing her finger in Kori's face.

_That's my business, not yours, #&!_ Kori thought. "I could ask you the same question," Kori said.

"I was sent here by Odin! But he couldn't have sent you, you were sick!"

_Shows what you know, moron._ "I wasn't really sick. Well, I was, but I'd gotten better. I sent myself to Earth so Odin couldn't use me against Loki later on."

Spica glanced questioningly at Loki. Gods and goddesses don't get sick easily. Loki simply gave a rather depressed returning look that meant he'd explain later.

Back with Freya and Kori, the goddess of love, beauty, and war wasn't near done with the little goddess of loyalty. "Oh, you think you're really clever!? You know why I'm here!? I was sent here for trying to convince Odin to take Loki back! Why didn't you do anything like that?"

_Because, unlike certain bimbos I know, I have a brain._ "Because I knew he wouldn't listen. You underestimated Odin if you really thought he'd take you seriously."

Freya paused momentarily, a bit at a loss. Then she came back with a vengeance. "Well, now that Loki's been banished, your marriage is annulled, you know that!?" she asked triumphantly.

Kori tensed up and glanced quickly at Loki, who was rather surprised: this was the first he'd heard of it, but it made sense. Kori took a deep breath and replied to Freya "It's not definite, but I know there's a chance we're not technically married anymore."

"I say it's definite!" Freya argued. "And you don't have any right to keep me away from him anymore, so there!"

_Shut up, SHUT UP, __**SHUT UP!**_ "Freya, I may not have a right…" Kori gave the other goddess a venomous look. "But you still don't have it either. YOUR marriage still counts, am I correct?"

Freya stared in shock that Kori could possibly be that brazen and cruel. For Freya was married…but her husband was Od, the god of travel and wanderers, and many years ago he wandered away and never returned, leaving Freya crying golden tears. The truth was, Loki's loyalty to those he cared about was one of the things she liked best about him, and he helped her think she could heal the blow. And now Kori had brought it up again.

Kori realized that she'd gone too far, and lost control of her temper. Time to back pedal. "I'm sorry, that was mean…what I meant is, even if I don't have the right to keep you from Loki, you don't necessarily have the right to pursue him anyway."

"WHY NOT!?" Freya shrieked in Kori's face, practically knocking the girl over.

_Loki deserves someone ten times as smart as you, at least!_ "Well, you and Loki might not make the best match…"

"How would you know!?"

"And there's your daughter, Hnossa!" Kori added with a burst of inspiration. "She might not be happy with it! I mean, she was friends with Vali, it might make it awkward for her."

"YOU might not know it, Siguna, being a sick little weakling," Freya said bitterly, practically igniting the fuse, "but Hnossa takes on after her father. During Loki's binding, she went wandering and never came back, just like Od!"

Kori felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"You don't know anything!" Freya yelled. "I'll give you one last chance, okay? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't be with Loki."

Without thinking her words over like earlier, Kori blurted out the first thing that came into her mind. "Because he's like ten now, so it makes you a pedophile."

For a minute, Freya stared blankly at the child before her. Then her face contorted in rage, and, to Kori's amazement, a thin bladed sword appeared in Freya's hand. "You WITCH!" Freya shouted, and swiped her sword at Kori. The latter just barely dodged, and, shrieking, ran off, followed closely by a murderous Freya.

Loki clutched in forehead, furiously muttering something in another language. Then he motioned for Spica to follow him and ran off in the direction Kori and Freya had gone in.

As he ran, he explained the earlier things about the binding and sickness to Spica. "A while ago, Balder, Odin's son, made me quite angry. I'd rather not talk about how. But, to make a long story you probably already know short, I killed him, and then prevented him from being revived. I tried to escape Odin and the other gods, but it didn't work, I got caught. My son Vali was turned into a wolf, and then instilled with madness and force to kill his little brother Narvi.

"But that wasn't the end of it. Odin brought me to a cave deep underground, and brought Narvi's body with us. Then he pulled out the intestines, and…and he chained me to a rock with them. And he told me I'd stay there for a few hundred years to learn my lesson. The other deities gave me some final taunts and left…and worst of all, Skade, the goddess of ice and winter, left a poisonous serpent of her creation with me, dripping poison into my eyes.

"But Kori, then Siguna, wouldn't leave my side. She got a bowl made of special metal, and came to my side, sitting next to me and catching to poison in the bowl. The only time it dripped into my eyes was when she had to empty it. I told her a million times to go, and Odin himself came and dragged her away once or twice, but she wouldn't leave, she'd always come back.

"In the end, though, she started to get weaker. It was the poison, you see: I'm a jotun, a giant, I can endure, but Siguna wasn't so strong. The poison, just the vapors of it she breathed in, was slowly killing her.

"That was actually what got me out of my confinement. Kori-Siguna was good friends with Idunn, the goddess of youth, and Sif, Thor's wife. They came to visit, and when they saw how ill and weak their friend was they turned to Frigga, Odin's wife…and Siguna's foster sister. Frigga begged Odin to let me go for her sister's sake, and Odin eventually relented. I was released, and for the next few years afterwards, I ended up staying by Siguna's side and helping her. A rather ironic twist, when you think about it. Apparently, Siguna used the illness to hide her absence for a while when she followed me here…that must be why it was so long before Odin sent anyone after her."

Loki stopped, as did Spica. They'd run in a giant circle and had lost track of Kori and Freya. "Spica, I think you should go back and get Yamino and Kori's sisters. I'll keep looking for Kori and Freya, okay?" Spica nodded and ran off, and Loki restarted his search for Freya and his ever-loyal, ever-sacrificing, and ever-jealous wife.

((I was going to wait until I had three new reviews for the last chapter before posting this, but it turned out so much better than the other chapters of this fic so far that I couldn't wait! Plus, I promised I'd post quickly, and I have no idea how long it'll be until I get a new review…

Yes, Freya really was married to a god who left. Yes, she really did have a daughter named Hnossa. No, there's no myth that says Hnossa also left Asgard. I put that in myself. Also, the recount of the myth of Loki's imprisonment is mostly accurate, only slightly altered (the transformation happened inside the cave, and Loki was bound before Narvi's entrails were turned to iron), and embellished a little so I could explain why Loki was released from captivity. My version makes sense, I hope.

The next chapter will be an action-packed one I've thought out a while back. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you enjoyed this one, too. Until next time, my dear readers! Story-time, over and out!))


	8. Enter the God of Schemes

Hailey Davis

.((Okay, so we last so our friend Kori in an…interesting situation. How long do you think she can dodge Freya and that sword of hers? Loki can't be counted on to help her at this particular moment, seeing as he lost track of her. Let's hope she can handle this…

No, I STILL don't own the Norse gods, quit rubbing it in! And I don't own Sakura Kinoshita or her marvelous anime, either. Hmm…

Oh, and by the way, I've used the Japanese terms for "big sister" and "big brother" until now, but I realize it's kinda silly, since my main source for my info in this fic is the English version of the anime and the manga released in America, neither of which use the Japanese terms. I'll be using the English phrases from now on. Instead of Onee-chan, san, and sama, it'll just be Big Sis (Kori), Big Sister (Midori), and Older Sister (Megumi).

Review shout-outs!

Gemini Artemis: I'm glad you think it makes sense. Originally, it was a lot more complicated, but then I realized no one would get it but me and I simplified it. As for Yamino, the reason I'm pretty sure he won't end up with Midori is because I'm considering having him fall for another OC, instead. Midori will love him no matter what, though, and he will befriend her. And like I said, I'm not positive it'll be MayuLoki, mostly due to the fact that I'm not sure how to get past the age differences.

Seven Midnights: Oh, yay, another person gets it. Yeah, I feel the same way about poor Vali and Narvi, it's a terrible fate. Stupid Odin. And there will be PLENTY of Narvi and Vali (especially Vali) as the story goes on…a little in this chapter, in fact!

Melissa Brandybuck: I never read the original manga, so I don't know how myth accurate it was. However, so little is known about Norse mythology that there's plenty of breathing room, so maybe it was more accurate when you bent it a little. And I'm glad you're reviewing again, by the way.

Also, random, but his chapter is WICKED long, so you'd better make sure you have some time on your hands and a snack nearby. I might actually have to cut it up into two chapters!

Alright, onto the story…or rather, the flashback…))

_Ages ago, in the outer part of Asgard's beautiful palaces and gardens, near the wall that protected it from the freezing land of the giants, Siguna, the goddess of loyalty and wife of Loki, wandered through the warm outdoors. Rather than the black clothes she would take to wearing later on, she was clothed in a violet dress that complimented her dark hair and eyes._

_By her side was a young boy, perhaps about thirteen, with the same black hair, but eyes that were greener than emeralds as opposed to his mother's darker-than-dark blue. He looked like a rather shy and nervous sort, and was apparently content to stay at his mother's side._

"_Narvi, you really should play with the other younger gods," she said to him suddenly. Her voice wasn't unkind, but rather concerned: she worried about her son's anti-social tendencies and lack of communication with his "peers" when his brother Vali wasn't with him._

_Narvi shook his head and looked at his mother with those big green eyes that reminded her so much of his father's. "I don't like them too much, really. Some of them don't like me too much, either."_

"_If you mean Odin's son, Vidar, and Balder's son, Forseti, you shouldn't let them scare you," Siguna told him, gently but firmly. "Stand up to them."_

"_I'm not scared of them," the boy informed her, although he also visibly shuddered at the very thought of sticking up for himself to those two. "I'm more embarrassed really. Mostly 'cause of Vali."_

_Siguna couldn't argue with that: recently, Vali had gotten into the habit of picking fights with none other than the strongest of all the Asgardian girls: Thor's beloved daughter Thrud. His strategy when she got too violent was a rather cowardly one, in Siguna's eyes. If he got in serious danger of being injured by the young thunder deity, his tactic was to run like a squirrel for the nearest tree and stay just above the reach of the small girl, who couldn't climb a tree to save her life. Usually, he'd be found half an hour later still throwing taunts at her, as she shrieked at him and tried to goad him into coming down. Once or twice the powerful girl had even knocked down the tree to get at him! Siguna would give anything to know why Vali was so intent on Thrud's suffering, so she could convince him to stop._

"_I suppose you're right," she commented to Narvi. "It must be interesting having a brother like that. I wish he'd toughen up, that he'd get stronger."_

"_He's strong," Narvi said quickly to his mother, quick to defend his brother. "No one in Asgard can run faster than him, even when he's yelling at the person chasing him."_

"_What does yelling have to do with his speed?" Siguna asked, honestly baffled._

_Narvi didn't smile often, but now he did. "Have you ever tried running from someone and talking to them at the same time?"_

In all honesty, Siguna had never seriously had to run from someone until that day at the market in her human form called Kori, with Freya just barely out of range with her sword. The memory of her conversation with her late son came back to her suddenly, and she felt herself holding a new respect for her older, less gentle son Vali: she could never have yelled at Freya if she tried for fear of tripping or running out of breath, while Vali had been able to loose a barrage of clever taunts at will when at the same time fleeing Thrud's fury.

"YOU GET BACK HERE!" Freya screeched in rage, trying to keep up with the child. It was harder than it looked to run in her dress, and Siguna was fast: Vali obviously inherited a good deal of his speed from his mother. But Freya was determined. Pedophile! How dare she!

It was hard to believe that, once upon a time, Vali had been quite close to Freya's darling daughter Hnossa. But that's another story…

Foreshadowing aside, in the present, Kori suddenly realized that she was slowing down a little: she only had so much energy, being a little girl. Her only hope was to stop somewhere and try to talk Freya into a calmer mood. After all, Freya was boisterous and dramatic, but no murderer, and angry or not, she probably didn't really want to kill Kori. It was just a matter of getting her to realize that.

It was just as well that Kori came up with this, because she had also come to a dead end street, having run out of the market square and into a long-since deserted street in the shopping district. The buildings were once ornate but now run down and boarded up. That was good. If Freya caused any damage, people wouldn't be too suspicious.

Kori came to a halt and whirled around to face Freya. Surprised by this development, Freya also stopped. "What're you doing, Siguna?" she asked.

"First of all…my name here on Midgard…_gasp_…is Kori Hanabusa, so please…call me that," Kori instructed the goddess of war amid catching her breath. "Second, I stopped because I want to apologize…_pant_…for that comment earlier…and I can't do that while running."

"You want to apologize," Freya incredulously repeated, scowling.

Kori nodded, finally feeling good enough to talk without gasping for air. "Yes, I do. That was cruel. I don't know what came over me. I guess I just want to keep you away from Loki as much as you want to keep me away from him."

"Well, I was down here first!" Freya shouted.

In truth, Freya had not yet been sent to Earth when Kori had left herself, but she _had_ found Loki first, so Kori decided for Freya's benefit not to bring up her mistake. Still, she felt she had to tell her "Yeah, but I was the one who he married."

"He didn't know me yet!"

"Fair enough," Kori conceded with a shrug of defeat but not surrender. "How about you don't keep me away from Loki and I won't keep you-or that cute little girl whose body you're inhabiting-away from him either."

Freya considered this idea. She disliked the idea of letting Kori-Siguna anywhere near Loki. However, she wanted to be with him too. And besides, the only way she could think of too keep Kori-Siguna away from Loki for good was to get rid of her, which wouldn't make Loki too happy with her, she was sure. "Well…I dunno…I can't think of another way, but…"

"I can." Kori and Freya jumped at the voice of another. They looked about them. Where had it come from? The answer came via a hawk that flew from seemingly nowhere, not quite clipping Kori with its wing as it flew by but making her turn up her head. Upon the roof of a nearby, empty shop stood the hawk's master, looking down upon the goddesses with a leering grin and a horrible look in his one eye.

"HEIMDALL!" Kori shouted, suddenly angry beyond all belief. Heimdall was nothing near her friend, and the two had always shown open contempt for each other since nearly forever, especially after Kori married Loki, who Heimdall hated from the very start. He was the last person she expected or wanted to see.

He cocked his head innocently, his smile losing its cruel edge and instead becoming sickeningly sweet. "Aw, that's no way to say hello to an old acquaintance after so many years without seeing them," he said in a voice that was mocking to the umpteenth degree. "I'm hurt, really, Siguna. Or Kori, whichever you prefer. It won't matter too much longer what you're called."

"Oh, it won't will it?" Kori snarled, disgusted by Heimdall's patronizing words. "Dare I ask why, Cyclops?"

Heimdall's face again changed, contorting into an enraged mask of fury. "Do you know why I lost this eye!?" he shouted.

"No, and quite honestly, I don't give a damn, either," Kori informed him. His already dismal face darkened even more, and deep down, Kori knew she was going too far. But she was still angry from Freya's arrival and now his, and she hated Heimdall for hating Loki, and her judgment was skewed. "Why don't you just go back to that little rainbow bridge of yours and leave the rest of us alone?"

Somehow, it took him a mere second to suddenly vanish from the rooftop and reappear in front of a very startled Kori. She gasped and stumbled back a little, but soon was forced to stop by Heimdall.

It _is_ rather hard for a person to move when a strong pair of hands suddenly reaches forward and clasps their throat.

Kori struggled, tried by pure reflex to claw at Heimdall's gloved wrists to no avail. She couldn't breathe! Her eyes had instinctively shut when he grabbed her. She opened them a little and squinted at Heimdall, who looked at her with a mixture of severe dislike and some strange type of pity, like he'd sort of wanted to do this but not enough to have done so if he hadn't been forced to. And he didn't. But Odin _had_ to prevail, and his instructions needed to be followed, and if he killed Siguna, Loki could be spurred to fight. And besides…the last thing he needed was another deity to try and observe. Kori couldn't absorb this, as she was unable to keep her eyes open too long.

"H-hey!" screamed Freya, who had been mostly forgotten. She was shocked by this: where had Heimdall come from? And why was he trying to kill Kori-Siguna? She hadn't attacked him or anything, and couldn't defend herself in this mortal form. "Heimdall, stop it!"

"I'm surprised, Freya," Heimdall said, not looking away from Kori's flushing face and squeezed shut eyes that were beginning to expel tears. "I'm ridding you of a rival for Loki. Why are you upset? Isn't that why you drew your sword?"

Freya was shocked to silence for a second. Then Kori-Siguna, poor Kori-Siguna, managed to let out a strangled gurgle that incurred Freya's sympathy. No one, Freya suddenly decided, should have to just stand there and be strangled without anyone trying to save them!

Heimdall had actually been slightly touched by this too. Kori's eyes had shot open again and were staring at him. He knew that his face was probably going blurry to her by now. "I really am not enjoying this, you know," he informed her, not that she could respond at this point. Much as he'd always been unable to stand her, he didn't like having to kill her. It was Odin's orders.

"Heimdall, you let her go right now!" Freya demanded, pointing her sword at Heimdall. He glanced back at her without the slightest bit of fear. "I mean it!" she told him.

"Tell me, Freya," Heimadall asked calmly, "If you run that sword throught me…how will you keep it from stabbing Kori-Siguna, too?" Freya realized he was right: Kori-Siguna was like his human shield. It looked very bad for the fate of Loki's second wife…

But then Freya said something that Heimdall knew would spell disaster for him. Something that would totally ruin this mission. Something that would cause not only his failure, but quite a bit of annoyance as well. Something that would bring forth someone that was very, very nearby, unfortunately for him.

Freya, at the top of her lungs, shrieked "BIG BROTHER! FREY! GET OVER HERE **NOW**!"

And, a second later, who should pop up but Frey himself. Quite literally POP up, from underground. From beneath Heimdall's feet, even! Frey and Gullinbursti, his loyal flying boar, came out of the sewer systems they were exploring and unintentionally knocked Heimdall down…causing him to lose grip on Kori, who was sent flying in the other direction and into a wall, which knocked what little wind was in her out. "Dear sister!" Frey shouted dramatically, completely oblivious to what he'd just caused. "I heard your cries from down below! What do you need!?"

"It's okay, you already saved her!" Freya told him, full of relief that her brother had actually been close by, as the luck of the gods would have it. Confused, Frey turned behind him and saw Heimdall, just sitting up from this fall, and Kori, who was sitting with her back against a building, choking and gasping and gently rubbing her bruised, sore neck.

Frey examined this for a second, and then turned to Freya. "Wait…Heimdall was attacking an innocent girl?" he asked, not quite believing this.

"She's not just a girl!" Heimdall yelled in anger. "She's SIGUNA! I was told to kill her by Odin himself! Get out of the way and let me do my job, Frey!"

Kori attempted to shout out some doubtlessly sarcastic comment, but only succeeded in making herself go into fits of coughing. Her lungs, her poor little human lungs were sore and aching so much she had trouble breathing even without Heimdall's hands around her throat. Oddly, the first thing that came to mind in her coughs was rather irrelevant: How would she explain the bruises on her neck to her Big Sister and Older Sister?

Heimdall glanced back at the girl, reluctantly impressed by her obvious vigor despite having looked death in the eye a moment before. "You don't bow to fate that easily, do you?" he asked. Again, any answer was drowned by Kori's hacking gasps for air.

Frey shook his head, shocked and rather horrified. "Heimdall, it's that just…barbaric?" he asked. Truth be told, Frey had always had a soft spot for Siguna, even with the constant fights between her and his sister.

But he also was pretty good friends with Heimdall, and he knew that after all he'd been through, the god of schemes had little left but the orders of Odin and his hatred for Loki. He couldn't just tell Heimdall to ignore orders…but he also couldn't just stand by as Siguna was murdered without any means of being defended! Besides his sister, who he realized had run off for some reason…

Heimdall let out a single bark of laughter that held no humor. "Well, then, what do you want me to do? Get myself a sword? Maybe find some poison?"

"I'd…like it if you didn't kill her at all, actually," Frey admitted.

Another humorless laugh from Heimdall. "Odin told me to attack Siguna as soon as she was positively identified. Do you have any other ideas?"

"Um…try and talk Odin out of it?" suggested Frey tentatively, poking his index fingers together nervously.

"No chance. AND IF THAT PIG OF YOURS DOESN'T PUT DOWN SIGUNA RIGHT NOW I'LL KILL IT TOO!" Heimdall shouted, pointing. Because, sure enough, Gullinursti had taken it upon himself to try and take Kori's semi-conscious self out of the danger zone, but had barely gotten Kori onto his back when Heimdall spotted him. Shocked, he jumped and squealed, dropping Kori to the ground with a thump.

"Hey! Leave Gullinbursti out of this!" Frey whined. When Heimdall just rolled his eyes, Frey actually pouted. "You're taking this too seriously."

"Then you aren't taking this seriously enough!" Heimdall accused. "We agreed back when you said you weren't going to try to kill Loki anymore that you'd stay out of my way while I did!"

"She's not Loki, though!" declared Frey as though this was some brilliant insight. "I never said I wouldn't get in your way when it came to Sig-"

"Kori!"

"What?" Frey and Heimdall cried in unison, looking toward the direction this new voice had come from.

"Her name on Earth is Kori," explained the newcomer as he approached them, calling forth his weapon as he came closer. He motioned for Freya, who had gotten him, to stand back and stay out of this. She complied to his wishes.

Loki held forth his staff Laevateinn and glared at Heimdall with pure, unadulterated rage.

((Whoa, this chapter was harder to write than I thought it'd be…it also had to be cut short, the conclusion to the drama will happen before too long. Sorry that I'm not sure this chapter came out too well, I'll do my best to do better for you in the future! This was just more difficult to put into words than I thought I'd be…

Sayonara!))


	9. Tricks vs Schemes: Death Match!

.((Loki is not amused. No, he is not. For obvious reasons. And Heimdall's taking things a lot farther than he usually does, isn't he? He's not so cruel all the time…looks like he's getting desperate! Anyway, it's time for an epic fight scene. Or at least, I hope it will be epic, since this is honestly one of the first times I've written anything like this.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the Norse gods. I also don't own Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok…yet. Mahaha!

Review shout outs!

Melissa Brandybuck: No, Narugami won't show up. There are enough gods here as it is! And I'm aware that Loki is sillier in the manga, having read the two that are in America. I doubt anime Loki would treat "hostage negotiation" the same way manga Loki did in the second black book!

Seven Midnights: I'm glad you like Vali/Narvi face time as much as me. The chapter did turn out okay; for all that I never got to the epic fight scene. I'm glad I've improved your respect for Freya a little. And as for Heimdall…well, with the revenge, the fact that Odin is king of the gods, and Heimdall's relation to Odin (Heimdall is one of Odin's children, and I'll get further into that later in the fic), it isn't surprising that Heimdall takes Odin's orders so seriously.

Anyway, in this chapter, major allusions are made to the episode that's pretty much one big fight scene with Loki and Heimdall. You know, the one where it looks like Heimdall died. You know how he had been given back his own eye, only it was ruined to be made into a weapon? If I recall correctly, every attack Heimdall preformed involved him shouting "Eye of something-or-other!" He does that a lot in this chapter. I made up the names for his attacks as I went along.

Alrighty, then, to the fic!))

Heimdall took a second to get over his shock from Loki's sudden appearance, and then hid his annoyance with Loki's presence with a smile that implied he'd expected Loki to show up. "Loki, you're looking well," he said. "Far better than she is." Heimdall jerked his head in the direction of Kori, who was still massaging her neck and taking deep breaths and generally looking a little pathetic. "You're lucky Freya had mercy on her. You showed up much too late to save her yourself. What kind of husband are you, letting your wife get into such trouble?"

Loki listened to all of this without any change in expression, except perhaps the rage in his eyes growing a bit more profound. He held his staff out with a steady arm, obviously waiting for Heimdall to get to the end of his little tirade before launching into the offensive.

Noting this, Heimdall sighed. "You know, I was hoping you wouldn't show your face," Heimdall admitted. "It would make killing Siguna-oh, sorry, _Kori_-a heck of a lot easier. Not that it's actually anything personal against her. It's just a measure to get you angry."

"Oh, you've succeeded in **that**, Heimdall," Loki snarled, and his eyes flashed red momentarily. "I can assure you, I'm angrier with you now than I've been in a long, long time."

"That's good to hear," Heimdall said happily. "Now it'll be an easy task to make you FIGHT!" At the last word, Heimdall thrust out his hand towards Loki, and the hawk he had brought from the world of the gods after his old one was killed flew from nowhere towards Loki. He leapt out of the way just in time, but the hawk came back again and again, intent on striking the god of mischief.

"Loki!" Freya shouted in fear. She moved to help him.

"No, Freya!" Loki was quick to call back. "You protect Kori for me!"

There was only the slightest hesitation before Freya ran over to Kori's side. As she did, she passed Frey, who was standing and frantically trying to decide what to do. Freya answered the question for him, grabbing him by the cape and dragging him after her. "Big Brother, you gotta help me!" she told him, and he was perfectly happy to follow his dear sister's lead.

As for Loki, he finally was sure enough of Kori, Freya, and Frey's safety to rush forward, aiming a good whack with Laevateinn at Heimdall's face in a direct attack. But the god of schemes was faster than the god of trickery expected, and he effortlessly evaded the attack. "Nice try, Loki, but I'm not going to lose to you again! I may not have Odin's gift anymore…" Heimdall's empty eye socket began to glow brightly, to Loki's amazement.

"…BUT I CAN STILL USE THE POWER! EYE OF LIGHTNING!" And a humongous bolt of energy sprung forth. Loki just barely put up Laevateinn to deflect it, but was still forced back a good ten meters.

_Heimdall still has those powers even though they were bequeathed to him with his ruined eye?!_ Loki frantically tried to absorb this. _Then why did he try to strange Kori rather than use the abilities? Unless…_

Loki smirked a little as he brushed the dust from his jacket and readied for his next attack. He saw the weakness of Heimdall's abilities: he could only use them so much, now that his eye was gone. He hadn't used them on Kori to conserve his energy…but with enough time in battle, Heimdall would use all this power up and Loki could easily beat him. And by beat him, Loki figured he'd knock him down, smack him around a bit to humiliate him, and then call it a day: Heimdall had been through enough, even if he had tried to kill poor Kori.

Heimdall, of course, didn't know any of that was going through Loki's head. All he saw was his hated enemy smile to himself as he brushed himself off, completely uninjured. "We'll see if you're still smiling when this is over!" he hollered. "EYE OF THE MAELSTROM!" A huge tornado sprung from nowhere, lifting Loki off the ground and sending him flying about within it in several directions before Loki managed to somehow have himself flung free.

He landed on the rooftop of one of the abandoned shops and immediately stood up, only to quickly need to bat away the gung-ho hawk Heimdall had deigned fit to bring from the world of the gods as his new pet and spy. "Stupid bird!" he yelled at it as he smacked it down.

The hawk, although stunned, quickly gathered itself up and flew off. Loki then felt his side get struck by something: Heimdall had hit him with an attack while his bird had distracted him! He felt as though he had been pounded with a red hot metal bar right in the gut, and he had to fall to his knees in pain. He lost grip of his staff, which slid over several meters away from its owner.

"Eye of the Secret Strike," Heimdall announced calmly, coming from nowhere and approaching Loki from behind. "You should pay more attention."

"You should be less of a total-" Loki began, but then he took a deep breath and regained his temper. Unlike Kori, who had lost control and almost fallen to Freya's sword, Loki was determined to remain calm in the face of his adversary. "You…should remember not to underestimate your opponents," he said instead.

"Oh?" Heimdall retorted in honest surprise. "I shouldn't?" He had reached Loki and stood behind him with his hawk on his shoulder. He could kill Loki right then and there if he wished with another Eye of Lightning. But…

"How do you propose to beat me?" He asked in honest curiosity.

His question was answered by Loki's staff, which suddenly flew off the ground toward its owner as though summoned. Which it was, apparently, by a word Loki called out in a language not used by humans. Heimdall instinctively leapt out of the staff's path, and Loki grabbed it and swung wildly in Heimdall's direction.

He only managed to scrape his one eyed adversary in the arm, but it drew blood. Heimdall kneeled to the ground in a defensive stance and quickly glanced at the cut. Dammit, he shouldn't have let Loki get to him! And the spell! What kind of spell was that!?

Heimdall had apparently spoken the last question aloud, because Loki answered. "That, Heimdall, was a regular summoning spell, in a language much more suited for spell work. Or were you not aware that the tongue of the jotuns-my mother tongue-is a great magic catalyst?"

"Of course…" Heimdall said, mostly to himself. "You used to be a giant…and giants are very, very good mages…"

"Although they do prefer to just give you a good punch in the face and end it there, the brutes," Loki commented, sounding slightly ashamed but also rather amused with the customs of the jotun ice giants, which he called his home culture. "Which is what I have half a mind to do myself. Just give you good whack and leave it at that."

"Wait, what?" Heimdall sputtered, stunned. "I tried to kill her!" He didn't need to specify who 'her' was.

"True…on Odin's orders, I assume," Loki said in his "Elementary, my dear Watson" tone we all love so much. "So, it's not like it was your own idea. Odin is all you have left. That, and your hate of me. I feel you've been through enough pain as it is, and I shouldn't force _too_ much more upon you."

"WAIT, WHAT!?" Heimdall repeated. He couldn't believe it.

"Don't get me wrong, Heimdall," Loki said in response, scowling at the god who the myths declared his enemy. "I'm still angry at you for doing what you did to Kori. Really angry. Pardon my French, but I'm &#in _pissed_ at you for that. But you're not about to repent for it, are you? So what good would injuring you further do?"

Heimdall was silent, and just kept staring at Loki.

The god of fire turned his beautiful green eyes from his opponent. "The last time I acted on a grudge wasn't too different from this. I had my target right where I wanted him…and he ended up dead." He was referring, of course, to how he had killed the bright god Balder with one arrow made with mistletoe. "That turned out horribly. I'm not going to let hate and anger define my actions anymore. I've caused enough pain, to myself and to others." He glanced back at Heimdall. "It would do you well to do the same."

After another second of staring, Heimdall's head fell. He looked at be the picture of penitence. Loki had been holding his staff ready to fend off an attack the whole time, and now he felt he could lower it. "I…" Heimdall said quietly. "I…don't…"

He raised his head, and his eyes were full of hate.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR CHARITY!" he bellowed, surprising Loki only slightly. He put up his staff again as Heimdall screeched "EYE OF BRIARS!"

A large multitude of thorn-like projectiles flew at Loki warp speed. He swung his staff as fast as he could and defended himself from most of them, but he obtained several small cuts on his hand and one across his cheek. Heimdall wasn't about to just leave it at that, though. "EYE OF THE HAILSTORM!" The thorns turned into ball of ice and snow, and Loki soon had to get out of the line of fire to avoid getting blinded by the small misles and the freezing wind. So much for staying in the fight, it looked like Loki might be forced into just dodging again.

"Dammit, Heimdall, your hate is getting us nowhere!" Loki called out, getting more and more frustrated with Heimdall and his undying hate. "Your hate will kill us both eventually if you don't-"

"AS LONG AS YOU DIE I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO ME!" Heimdall interrupted. Then he suddenly smiled in a rather disturbing way. "Don't think it's worth it to kill me? How about this!?" Heimdall whipped his head around. "EYE OF LIGHTNING!"

The bolt struck the edge of a nearby building. It crumbled and shook and dropped a multitude of debris onto the street.

Which might have meant nothing, if Loki didn't hear Freya shriek in fear and remember with a sickening shock that she, Kori, and Frey were still there. Heimdall had attacked the bystanders!

"Heimdall!" Loki shouted as though the name was a curse word. His determination to ignore his anger evaporated: he flung himself at Heimdall with every intention of knocking him off the building and breaking his neck.

Heimdall, still grinning like the malevolent puppet he was, readied to deflect his attack. He might have, too…

If, as the luck of the gods would have it, he was saved by Gullinbursti. The boar had not taken well to the attempt at his master's life, for all that Heimdall had probably forgotten about Frey in his rage. And so the flying pig burst from nowhere and tackled Heimdall to the ground, inadvertently catching Loki's staff and being flung away with a squeal.

Shocked by this bizarre turn of events, Loki forgot his anger and momentarily ignored Heimdall, running to the building's edge, stepping on Heimdall as he did. He looked about wildly, searching for some sign, any sign, of the others.

He spotted them, to his immense relief, all kneeling on the ground, a bit bruised and battered from the rubble but amazingly not badly hurt. Kori made eye contact with him from her position, shielded a bit by Frey and Freya, and she smiled with relief: she had been just as worried about Loki as he had been about her.

He heard some snorts next to him, and glanced over. There was Gullinbursti, looking rather upset that Loki had hit him. Loki couldn't help but smile at this silly sight. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to hit you," Loki assured the boar, who seemed to accept the apology.

Loki looked back at Heimdall, who was just sitting up, stunned. "Gullinbursti, wait here for a moment, please," he instructed the pig, and then he walked over to Heimdall, as calm as if the entire fight had not occurred. "Hey, Heimdall!" He said to him once he reached him.

Still disoriented, Heimdall looked up at Loki…and was instantly KOed by a good WHACK in the face with the staff. Heimdall slumped to the ground, completely unconscious.

"Gullinbursti, take care of this later, will you?" Loki asked the pig, who was very surprised with how…basic Loki's final assault had been. "First, I'd like a lift down to check on Kori and the others."

Gullinbursti obliged, and within a minute or so Loki was back on the street, with Kori (having regained her strength) rushing forward and holding him tearfully. "Oh, Asgard above us, that was scary!" she cried. She had never been in real danger before, and probably would have started spiraling if Loki hadn't accepted her hugs and embraced her back.

Freya, for her part, managed to resist throttling Kori for hugging Loki by telling herself that Kori was obviously just too weak to handle it without him, unlike her. Frey was listening to Gullinbursti hurriedly squeal what was apparently a play by play of that last minute of the battle he'd witnessed, which Frey understood perfectly. "Loki, you knocked out Heimdall?" he asked, surprised and slightly concerned.

"Yep," Loki confirmed, seeming rather pleased with himself. "He'll be fine in a few hours, though. I didn't hit him _too_ hard." Frey didn't look convinced, but didn't ask any more questions.

Loki's look of self satisfaction faded, and he pushed Kori away a bit. He looked at her neck, which was horribly black and blue from Heimdall's death grip earlier.

_You showed up much too late to save her yourself. What kind of husband are you?_ Heimdall's words from earlier rang in Loki's head. He'd been right: he cared about Kori, and had been able to do nothing for her in a time she needed help. Loki was ashamed of himself.

Kori saw his pain and smiled weakly for him. "I'm fine, Loki. Don't blame yourself. It's not like you had any idea Heimdall would do something like this."

"Yes…" Loki agreed solemnly. It was true: Heimdall had never come so close to killing someone other than Loki in his assaults. He had used Reiya/Freya once, and he _had_ come close to hurting Mayura that first time he'd shown up, but still, somehow, this brought it to a whole new level.

"Heimdall's getting desperate," Loki said, thinking aloud. "He must have something else driving him forward…something making him feel even more hatred towards me, or making him feel he's running out of time." Loki glanced at Frey, to see if he had the answer, but the fertility god merely shrugged and shook his head, as clueless as Loki about Heimdall's increased rage.

Loki turned his gaze to Freya and smiled. "Thank you for getting me," he told her. Bad idea. He was ripped from Kori as Freya saw fit to give him a humongous tackle-hug.

"It was nothing, darling!" she half-said-half-shouted happily, obviously back to her usual self.

"HEY! GET OFF OF HIM!" Kori and Frey yelled in unison, Kori for jealousy, Frey for wanting to protect his sister. The two ran forward and pulled the two apart, each earning a glare from Freya and look of immense relief from Loki.

"Hey, what are you-" Freya began, but she was cut off. Loki quickly gave her a light tap with Laevateinn, and she began to glow, and within seconds, Freya was holding not Freya, but an unconscious Reiya.

"Frey, do you know where Reiya lives?" Loki asked, not sure whether Freya had told him. Apparently she had, because Frey nodded. "Good. Take her home, then you can come back and pick up Heimdall." Without any other ideas about what to do, Frey simply nodded, boarded Gullinbursti, and was off, carefully cradling Reiya.

Awkward turtle moment…

Kori giggled in high pitched sort of way. "Wow…that was…I don't know what it was," Kori admitted, still a little brain dead.

"It was kinda anti-climactic at the end, not that I'm complaining," Loki said with a shrug. "Anyway, I don't want to think about Heimdall anymore for quite some time. Or Odin. Or any of this." Loki withheld a sigh. "Let's go find the others. They're bound to be worried, especially Yamino and Spica, if they sensed the magic from the fight."

And with that, the two s9imply walked away from the destruction Heimdall had left in his wake, trying to pretend that this wasn't going to happen again any time soon.

((…Wow, that ending SUCKED. I've never written a fight scene before, and it came out okay, I geuss, but the ending…I couldn't think of any good way to end it! ARGH!

Ah, well, the next chapter will make up for it, I promise. Because…it's a spoof chapter! Dedicated entirely to humor, I plan to unleash a little funny and hopefully make you lol.

If you have any questions raised by this chapter, I'll answer them as well as I can next time, which hopefully won't be too far from now. Anyway, please keep reading, and have a nice day!))


	10. Loki's Fear

Hailey Davis

.((Finally-FINALLY-my real life friend YuukiHaruka, who is the one who introduced me to Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok in the first place, has reviewed. Sorry for the wait, but I refused to type this until they reviewed, so that's why it's late. To make up for it, this chapter is beyond long...it might take you a while to read it. It's more than ten pages on Word!

Anyway, this is the promised spoof chapter. Those of you who have read the first manga released in America will remember that the end included a short in which Loki was forced to go to the dentist (who turned out to be Verdandi), only to wake up after hearing his teeth would be extracted without anesthetic and realize it was a dream. I found it amusing, and it inspired this next chapter…

Review shout outs! CRAP, I POSTED WITHOUT THESE! Just deleted the chapter, reposting with review shout outs, I am such a moron!

Melissa Brandybuck: I personally prefer Loki's voice in the American version, the Japanese voice is a little too feminine. But it's all opinion. Thanks for the compliment about Loki's lines. Oh, and I'm glad you like the "awkward turtle moment."

Seven Midnights: You relate to Heimdall? Coolness. He isn't the type to bow easily to fate either, is he?

YuukiHaruka: Well I wasn't quite sure how to end it. So, I just went for humor, which I know I can handle.

Okays, onto the story! YARGH!))

Normally, Saturday mornings were relatively peaceful at Loki's house. Mayura showed up later than usual, Loki would allow himself to sleep in, and they tended to not get any cases until the afternoon. So, generally, they were nice, lazy mornings.

Not the Saturday after the incident, however.

And you know why not? Because Loki had been complaining of a toothache for a couple days, so Yamino had done what any good guardian of a child would do, much to Loki's horror: he had organized a trip to the dentist. And for all of his years and maturity, Loki possessed an overwhelming fear of dentists.

"I'M NOT GOING!" Loki shouted loudly the second Yamino opened his door to wake him. Loki was already awake, but not dressed, sitting in his bed and glaring at Yamino with a vengeance that would've made him look quite childish if the anger in his eyes wasn't so profound.

Yamino refused to be daunted by this: it was for Master Loki's own good! Instead, he just brought in Loki's breakfast on a tray, left it on the bedside table, and said "Master Loki, please get dressed. The sooner we get there the sooner your tooth stops hurting." He left without waiting for a response, realizing Loki would be in too bad a mood with him to give a polite answer.

Loki glared after his son for a minute before reluctantly picking up a piece of toast. He flinched upon biting into it. His tooth really did hurt more by the hour. But the _dentist!?_

The fact of the matter was that Loki actually did have a decent reason to be nervous. Long ago, he had made a deal with some dwarves to get some treasures. He made a bet with them, wagering his own head. Loki had ended up losing the bet, but he wasn't the god of tricksters for nothing. He saved himself by reminding the dwarves that, while he had bet his head. He had not bet his neck, so the dwarves didn't have the right to cut it. As such, he kept his head.

But the dwarves didn't give up so easily. One of them had tackled Loki, grabbed a conveniently place needle and thread, and sewed his traitorous mouth shut. Loki had, eventually, with the help of Siguna, gotten the threads out, but his mouth had hurt like crazy: it turned out the dwarf had done some damage to his teeth. So they went to the "scientist" among the gods, i.e. Verdandi, to get assistance.

And you know what? Dental procedures had been less than advanced way back then, even among the gods. The procedure had taken literally days, and had been very…very…VERY painful. Naturally, Loki had then gained a humongous dislike of the idea of dental work.

Dentistry was now more advanced, but rather than making Loki more comfortable with the idea, it had made him even more terrified. Because even worse in his mind than the various little wires and metal sticks that Verdandi had had to use way back when were the drills and hooks and scalpels used by the modern dentist. The idea of someone sticking those into his mouth made Loki sick to his stomach.

He knew, deep down, that Yamino had only the best of intentions, but Loki still had no plans of letting himself be brought to the most evil of evils besides Odin. So after forcing down some food and drink, he got dressed, shirking his usual jacket. Why? Mobility. He went to his window, opened it, and clambered out onto the tree outside it, intending to climb down and run.

Which he would've if Yamino hadn't inherited too much of Loki's intelligence. Because he had thought of this possibility and was standing as the bottom of the tree, looking up at Loki with a look on his face that implied he found this to be a bit immature. Loki yelped and practically fell out the tree in surprise. Was he really that predictable?

"Master Loki, get back into your room before you fall!" Yamino was quick to call out. "We're leaving in half an hour!" he then said after Loki grudgingly climbed back through the window. If he saw he venomous look Loki shot him, he ignored it, and went back inside.

Loki waited a second to make sure Yamino really was back in…then climbed right back out of his room and down the tree, feeling a slight bit guilty about betraying Yamino's trust until he remembered Yamino planned to bring him to the dentist and was therefore a bigger traitor. He bolted.

A few minutes later, Yamino checked Loki's room to make sure Loki wasn't trying anything else. It took very little time for him to spot the still open window and realize Loki had escaped anyway. "Oh, come on!" he muttered to himself, not sure whether to be mad at Master Loki for being so childish or at himself for not predicting this.

He went downstairs quickly. "Master Loki got out," he announced to the others, who all looked a bit startled by this. "I'm going to have to look for him. Fenrir, could you come too?"

"Why?" Fenrir asked casually, obviously not planning to cooperate.

"Because you could track him by scent, which would make this a lot easier."

Fenrir faked thinking about it, and then shook his head. "No, if Daddy doesn't want to go to the dentist, then I'm not helping you bring him there."

"But Big Brother-"

"I said I'm not going, so I'm not going!" Fenrir barked, interrupting. "You get Daddy by yourself; it's your entire fault this is happening anyway!"

Yamino restrained his annoyance and gave up on Fenrir. "Spica?" he said questioningly, hoping she might help. She shook her head. "Ecchan?" Again, a shaking head.

Yamino sighed. "Fine, I'll go look for him myself. I'll be back later. Fenrir, stay out of my room."

"Or what, you bastard!?" Fenrir called out after him. Yamino didn't respond and left.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Several blocks away, Loki was standing at a street corner, contemplating his next move. Where should he go to avoid Yamino and, therefore, the dentist? He didn't feel that just wandering about was too good an idea, seeing as there was too much of a chance that he might accidentally run into Yamino. He didn't expect Yamino to have too much help from the rest of the family, but even alone, he was bigger than Loki and therefore capable of just picking up Loki and carrying him, kicking and screaming, to the dentist's office if he thought that was the only way to get Loki there. Which it probably was.

He could hide somewhere. But with who? Not Narukami, he had no idea where he was working now, and besides, he might betray Loki to get him back for some of the well meant taunts and pranks. Mayura was definitely out, seeing as she was the one who had suggested the dentist to Yamino in the first place and would therefore definitely be on his side. Reiya, perhaps…no, if Kori found out, she'd eat him alive.

Kori…

Now that was a possibility. She knew the reason behind his fear of dentists and might be sympathetic to his case. Plus, her siblings had liked him, or at least the ones he'd met, so he could find more assistance there. Yes, Kori was the best person to go to in search of a safe haven.

He just hoped Yamino hadn't thought of this already and headed him off, like with the tree that morning.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Yamino had not thought of it, and was still searching for Loki. But he had no idea where Loki would have gone. Not for the first time, he mentally cursed Fenrir for being so stubborn and refusing to help, as much to irk Yamino as to assist Master Loki. His nose would've made this so much easier!

But, as the luck of the gods would have it, Yamino would not have to go solo much longer.

He had started at a walk, but was now almost running, more than a bit annoyed with this turn of events. As such, when he turned a corner, he unceremoniously ran smack into someone, knocking her down and falling down himself. "Sorry, my fault," he said instinctively, only then noticing the identity of the one he'd run into…

"Miss Megumi!" he exclaimed, this being his second oddly well timed encounter with her. She seemed a bit startled herself, but she smiled at him warmly.

"Oh, hello, Yamino!" she said to him, the first warm greeting he'd received that morning. "This is surprising. What are you doing, running around on a Saturday?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Yamino commented, standing and then helping Megumi to her own high-heeled feet. He blinked: it was Saturday and she was in her secretary outfit? "And why are you running in your work outfit?"

"Oh, I wasn't supposed to go into work today, but I got messed up and went anyway. I'm so scatterbrained sometimes! Anyway, once I found out I didn't need to work; I decided to hurry home, so Shinji could go out with friends like he probably wants to instead of watching the younger ones. So, why are you running around?"

Yamino explained his situation with Loki and the dentist, and received a smile and an understanding nod from Megumi that really improved his mood. "I know what you mean; you should try getting Midori to go to the dentist! Once, she went out and bought some toy handcuffs and handcuffed Shinji and I to our beds while we were sleeping the night before so we couldn't take her. We're just lucky Kori found where Midori hid the keys!"

"If it were anyone other than Midori you were talking about, I wouldn't believe you," Yamino commented. Megumi giggled. "Anyway, I should go now and keep looking."

"I'll help you!" Megumi exclaimed suddenly. She smiled amusedly at Yamino's surprised expression. "I still don't think I paid you enough for helping us that time. Besides, Midori usually takes a walk on Saturday, so if Loki runs into her…"

"He gets an ally," Yamino finished, less than pleased with the idea of dealing with both Master Loki _and_ the ridiculous Midori on his own. "I suppose you should help, but only if it's not too much trouble…"

"It's not. C'mon, let's get going."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Kori, please!" Loki said, practically begging. Kori had not, as he'd hoped, been sympathetic to his plight. Well, she was, but she was with Yamino in that she thought he should just calm down and go to the dentist, which was happening over Loki's cold unmoving corpse if he could help it. "Just let me hide out here!"

"No, you're tooth will get worse if you don't get it looked at!" Kori said firmly, pushing him out the door of the apartment. "I know you don't like water, so don't make me get my brother Yuki, he's got a water gun and he's not afraid to use it!"

Loki thought he'd prefer being wet to the dreaded dentist, but the threat made it clear that Kori was most certainly not going to help.

_Okay, time for strategy B!_ Loki thought to himself. Kori had been at his back, pushing him down the hallway towards the elevator, which they were almost at. He quickly whipped around and grabbed her outstretched hands, to her surprise. "Kori, please, have some mercy!" he begged, his pleading green eyes looking directly into her startled blue ones.

Still holding her hands, he pushed closer to her, leaning so his face was mere inches from her own, which was blushing bright pink. "C'mon, just let me stay at your house for a little while…I'll be good…"

Kori swallowed, and Loki chuckled to himself internally. He had her right where he wanted her! Gently, he released her hands and took her shoulders, pulling her close enough that their faces were practically touching. "Just for today…?" he whispered with a smirk that had always made his wife more sympathetic to him. "Siguna…?

For a second, it seemed that Kori was completely smitten. Then the elevator pinged and the door opened, and Kori came back to her senses. "Not today, my dear!" she shouted with a scowl that made it clear she would not be manipulated, and she flung Loki into the elevator. She then ran in herself and restrained her once husband, who was attempting to escape. Holding back by the arms, she prevented him from leaving the elevator until the doors closed.

"Kori! Please!"

"No!

"Even if I-"

"No!"

"What if I-"

"No!"

"You know I-"

"No!"

"But Kori, you-"

"No!"

"I'll do something-"

"No!"

"Even if-"

"No!"

"But I can't-"

"Loki, you are going to the dentist!"

"NO!"

In short order, she was dragging him out by the back of his shirt on the first floor, while he wildly tried to free himself from her clutches and repeatedly screamed "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" at the top of his lungs, all previous maturity gone as if it had never been.

Was there anyone in the city who would be willing to help him!?

The answer was yes, as he discovered shortly after Kori managed to push him all the way outside the apartment complex. Because who should head over in their direction but the little green monster Midori!

"Hi hi hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" she exclaimed in a voice that would've been sweet if it was less high pitched.

Kori was surprised. "Why are you home so early?"

"I dunno, the author didn't mention it."

Somewhere not too far away, the fourth wall cracks a little bit.

"Are you two playing a gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame?" Midori inquired, curious and apparently in the mood to join in.

Loki opened his mouth to tell her that it wasn't a game, only to shout in pain when Kori poked his cheek on the side of his mouth the sore tooth was on. "Loki needs to go to the dentist," Kori informed Midori.

The green girl's smile vanished and she shuddered. "Oh, I hate that game! All those drills and hooks and picks and oh, it hurts Midori so!"

"That's only because you don't sit still!" Kori told Midori quickly, sensing Loki was now going to be even less willing to see the dentist, if that was even possible. "Now, we have to find Yamino so he can take Loki to the dentist."

Loki, unable to think of any other plan, gave Midori a pleading look. His plea was heard. Midori decided to help. Of course, Midori's help was…less than helpful.

"MI-DOH-RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" she shrieked, and she pulled a manhole cover out of thin air and beaned Kori on the head with it. Kori released Loki, wobbled a little, and then fell down, unconscious, and before Loki could react, Midori snatched up Loki and ran off, giggling madly and making Loki feel that maybe he'd chosen a fate worse than the dentist.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Within fifteen minutes, Loki and Midori were hiding in the middle of town, in what Midori assured Loki was the best possible hiding place: the sewer. Midori repeatedly poked her little green head up to survey the street, but Loki was more concerned with clinging to the ladder and not falling into the dirty water below. He had escaped Yamino for now…was he capable of escaping Midori later?

Not for the first time, a car ran over the manhole cover Midori still had on top of her head. "Ouchies!" she shrieked as it gave her a good clonk. "That hurt…"

"Midori, I find your hiding place a bit…questionable," Loki admitted, starting to feel claustrophobic and worrying that, if Midori got too hard a head blow, she might seriously hurt herself or fall. Plus it smelled bad down there.

"Don't worry, Midori hides here all the time!" she assured him, smiling and revealing green braces. Midori probably had to go to dentists and orthodontists often. She probably did hide here a lot. But what on earth had inspired her to come down here in the first place…?

Loki was sure if he asked he'd regret it. He knew better than to ask. This was Midori, asking her something like that might scar him for life. He should, under no circumstance, ask what had possessed her to hide out in a sewer under a busy street in the first place.

"Midori, where did you get the idea to hide here of all places?"

Darn, he'd gone and asked.

"Oh?" Midori blinked, her face lit by the sunlight streaming in from two holes in the manhole cover. "Oh, I came here while they were fixing the hole the guy with the flying pig made"

"Flying pig?" Loki repeated, all too sure of whom that had to be.

"Yeppers!" Midori said, grinning again. "He pops out of here all the time, but the first time he broke the whole road. Now he does it sometimes but he doesn't break the road. Midori saw him break the road the first time but no one believes me!"

"Why not…?" Loki asked, again feeling that he might have been better off if he'd kept quiet.

"Because the man on the flying pig is the Phantom Thief Frey! Can you believe it? _The Phantom Thief Frey!_ Midori wouldn't believe it if she hadn't seen it! But I did. So I do."

Loki had only just realized how annoying it was listening to Midori's chatter when it echoed off the sewer walls and made it seem like there were two of her. Speaking of echoes…he thought he heard someone talking…and the rev of an engine or some such…and the snorting of a pig…

Oh, no.

As if summoned, from down below who should suddenly come barreling up at Loki and Midori at blinding speed but Frey himself, riding Gullinbursti and unable to see the human (and godly) obstacles in his way because his vision was obscured by two giant bags of vegetables he'd bought. And so he collided with the two, sending them flying, once again causing Midori to hit her head on the manhole cover, and forcing them all out of the sewer. Loki and Midori went careening into an alley way nearby, thankfully not getting hit by any cars. Frey barely noticed he'd hit anything and just went flying on his way home, hoping that if he made Heimdall a good enough meal the god of schemes would finally start speaking to him again.

Loki would have shouted after him, had he not caught sight of two people down the road, running toward the noise. Yamino and Megumi! Crap! Quickly, he grabbed the semi-conscious Midori and dragged her into a hiding place behind a conveniently placed dumpster that actually smelled a bit better than that sewer.

"Wow, it sounded like there was a crash or something, but there's no damage I can see!" Megumi said half to herself. Yamino nodded, but seemed more concerned with looking around to see if maybe Loki had been the cause of the noise and was, heaven forbid, injured in any way. Fortunately, he didn't glance in Loki's direction.

Midori sat up, shook her head to clear it, and looked where Loki was looking. Her eyes lit up and she grinned wider than ever when she caught sight of Yamino. Without any warning to the god of mischief, she flung him back into the wall and bolted for Yamino. "MI-DOH-RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" she shrieked, and when he instinctively turned to the sound, poor Yamino found himself being mercilessly attacked by a small, hyperactive child in green. When he came back to his senses, he was on the ground, and Midori was sitting on top of him.

"Midori luvs you, oh yes she does!" she cooed, apparently content to stay right where she was, despite the obvious discomfort and embarrassment it was causing Yamino, who doubted his face would ever stop being red. Fortunately for him, Megumi grabbed her sister by the arms and hauled her off, allowing Yamino to stand up and back away from the girl a bit.

"Midori, that's rude!" Megumi informed her sister, rather flushed in the face herself. "Apologize, please!"

"Oh, hi hi hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Older Sister!" Midori said as if she hadn't even noticed her, which was a distinct possibility. "What're you doing with teh luv o' mah life?"

Megumi had to take a second to get over what Midori had just called Yamino, and then answered truthfully. "We're looking for Loki before he finds you."

"So you can take him to the Satandentist," Midori commented, mixing the terms "Satanist" and "dentist." Loki, still watching from behind the dumpster, made a mental note to remember that.

"So you've seen him!" Yamino shouted, realizing Midori wouldn't know this if she hadn't met up with Loki recently.

"Yup, he tried to get Kori to let him hide at our house, but she wouldn't let him. So I got him away from her."

"You hit her with something, didn't you?" Megumi asked, facepalming.

"Yeppers!"

Loki, meanwhile, was trying to refrain from screaming at Midori. What was she doing!? She was going to give him away!

"Where is he now?" Megumi inquired.

Midori smiled in an I-know-something-you-don't-know fashion. "I'm not going to tell youuuuuuuuuuuu!" she informed her sister happily.

"Will you tell me?" Yamino asked, and Midori seemed to consider that. "Please?" he asked, and Midori appeared to cave in, to Loki's horror.

"I'd be glad to tell you…" she started. Yamino and Megumi's faces lit with hope, and Loki wished he had someone to pray to for mercy.

"…But I don't know no more!" Megumi and Yamino's faces fell, and Loki took back the plea: it looked like he was actually getting along fine!

"What do you mean?" Megumi skeptically said to her sister.

"I mean we was hiding and then the Phantom Thief Frey came from nowhere on his flying pig and sent us flying and I don't know where Loki went after that 'cause I got knockeded out."

"Midori, what have I told you about making stuff up?" Megumi asked in a tired sort of voice. "I mean, flying pigs?"

"Actually," Yamino said, coming to Midori's defense, "Phantom Thief Frey likes taunting Loki quite a lot for some reason, and he really does have a flying pig."

Megumi stared at Yamino. "You mean it?"

Yamino shrugged. "I don't get it either. Anyway, it looks like Midori can't help us find Master Loki. We should look somewhere else."

"Okay." Megumi turned to her little sister with a firm look on her face. "Midori, if you see Loki, don't help him again, just get us, okay?"

"Okie dokie artichokie!" Midori announced, doing a goofy left-handed salute. Yamino and Megumi ran off. Midori stood there for a while, and then turned back to Loki with a triumphant smirk. "How'd I do? Midori is good at lying!"

"Yes, you are!" Loki agreed, laughing and coming out of hiding. He'd have laughed louder, but his mouth was as sore as anything. "But did you have to tackle Yamino like that? You could've hurt him."

"Yamino" Midori repeated, looking pleased and dreamy. "Oh, what a pretty name"

_She didn't know his name?_ Loki thought to himself, a bit startled, but come to think of it, he hadn't heard Midori use his name before…what an airhead! At least she was on his side.

"Whatever," Loki said. "We should find somewhere else to hide in case they double back." Midori opened her mouth. "And no more sewers!" Midori closed her mouth again. "Okay, then…where to go…" Loki considered.

Midori opened her mouth as if to say something and closed it again a few more times. "No more sewers?" she asked.

"Absolutely not," Loki confirmed. Midori then shrugged, obviously out of ideas. "Then Midori can't think of nowhere to go except the abandoned building, but we can't go there, 'cause it's not abandoned no more."

"What?"

"Yep, Midori's seen a hawk flying in and out and a guy with purple hair hanging out in one of the windows. He scares Midori, so Midori doesn't go there no more."

_She knows where Heimdall's hideout is!?_ Loki thought incredulously. There was, it seemed, more to Midori than the silly green girl that met the eye. But that would have to wait. "Right, so maybe it's best if I go one way and you go after Yamino and Megumi in the other way and just keep them from finding me."

"How?"

"I don't know, surly you can stall them, you thought of a brilliant lie before! You're such a smart girl, Midori; I know you can do it."

Loki's natural charm did to Midori what it had done to so many others: it had Midori eating up his words. "You can count on me! Mi-doh-riiiiiiiii!" she shouted, and she ran off after her sister and her crush.

Loki waited until she was out of sight. Then, smirking to himself, he turned around…

And the smirk was wiped right off his face when he almost walked into Kori, who had popped up right behind him looking none too pleased. _Dang, I should've known it wouldn't be so easy!_

"Sweet talking innocent girls?" Kori asked in a voice so cool it froze even the god of fire right in his tracks. "Really, Loki, one would think you'd be above that."

"That wasn't sweet talking," Loki told Kori, knowing he could very well be screwed in she was in too bad a mood with him, and feeling a bit guilty about the head blow she'd received for his sake. "I was just flattering her a little so she'd listen. It's not like she'd be less than eager to go at Yamino again."

"That's another thing!" Kori shouted, making Loki flinch. "You're sacrificing your son so you won't have to go to the dentist!"

"What do you mean, 'sacrificing?' Midori's not gonna eat him!" Probably. "Besides, he has Megumi with him; she can handle your sister."

"You encouraged her to lie."

"She did that on her own! I actually wouldn't have expected that of her. Sticking close to the truth to make it believable, keeping a straight face, I'm rather impressed…"

"You're not helping your case, Loki, my dear," Kori said to him in a tone made of pure ice and venom that he hadn't heard in years, not that the time had made it any less piercing. She continued. "You're the great god of fire and chaos. You killed that horrible troll when it was chasing the human boy. You tricked giant after giant. You got the gods all of their finest treasures. You endured unimaginable suffering…and now you're running from a trip to the _dentist_!?"

"Um…yes?"

Kori facepalmed. She couldn't always comprehend how silly her husband was at times. Even though she loved him with all her being, he drove her crazy every now and again.

"Hey, you know something?" Loki announced out of nowhere. "You're really pretty when you're angry. Have I ever told you that?"

"That doesn't work on me!" Kori told him, but she was blushing madly.

"It almost did last time," Loki couldn't resist reminding her.

Kori blushed more. "But in the end it didn't!" she shouted.

"You're right, it didn't," Loki agreed, sighing. "I should've just gone to Reiya's house, she'd've hid me…" Kori's blush turned into a flush of rage. "…but I didn't because I knew you'd be angry. Not that it matters, since you're angry at me anyway."

"Are you _trying _to make me more upset and confused!?"

"No, but I'm not trying not to," Loki told her with a shrug, and Kori had to seriously resist the urge to utterly throttle him. "All joking aside, Kori, the dentist freaks me out; you can't expect me to just go there!"

"No, I suppose not, but I can expect you to be a bit more mature about this whole thing!" Kori responded. "You're running from your own son!"

Loki had the good grace to at least flinch at that a bit. "He'll probably drag me to the dentist if that's what he thinks he has to do to get me there…"

"Of course!" Kori agreed. "Because he cares about you and wants what's best for you! If this keeps up…" She poked his mouth and he yelped at the burst of pain. "…than you won't be able to eat before long! You have to get it looked at!"

"But I'll panic!"

"You're already panicking."

"I'll panic more! C'mon, Kori, remember the dwarf thing? You know why this freaks me out so much!"

"I can assure you, Loki, that dentistry today-"

"Has all sorts of drills and pieces that are even worse! I do NOT want them being put into my mouth!"

"Loki, you're spiraling."

"I AM NOT SPIRALLING!"

Loki would've pushed his point further, had it not been for the hand that placed itself on his shoulder. He jumped, and slowly turned around to look into the eyes of his captor, who was kneeling down so as to look Loki in the eye.

"YAMINO!" Loki exclaimed, and his son, smiling in relief that he'd managed to find Master Loki, nodded. "How'd you…how'd you…?"

"Find you?" Yamino asked. "Megumi knew from the beginning Midori was lying. So, I talked her into telling the truth. Kori stalling you was just luck."

Loki couldn't help but toss Kori a dirty look. "You and your luck," he muttered, and she just smiled at him. He turned back to Yamino. "You still can't make me come, though."

Yamino sighed. "Master Loki…"

"NO!" And Loki knocked Yamino's hand away, raced past Kori, and ran away down the alley…

Only to suddenly have a manhole cover fly from around the corner and whack his face, the combined force of his running and its velocity throwing him to the ground, unconscious.

"OH, MY DEAR!" Kori shrieked.

"MASTER LOKI!" Yamino called out in horror at the same time.

"MI-DOH-RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" rang out Midori's apparent catchphrase, and her little green head popped out with a triumphant expression. "I gots 'im!"

"Midori!" Megumi's voice called out, as she was apparently chasing her sister. "I told you to slow dowOHMIGOD!" Because she had come around the corner, seen Loki, and realized what Midori had done. "Midori, what was that for!?"

"Crikey, he's a big'un!" Midori shouted in a horribly faked Australian accent as she poked Loki's unconscious form. "Lookit tha saize of 'im!"

"BIG SISTER!" Kori screamed, upset to the umpteenth degree. "What were you thinking!?"

Midori blinked, then said to Kori, in a tone that implied she thought it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I was thinking we can get him to the dentist a lot easier now, yup yup yup."

Yamino, Kori, and Megumi considered that, exchanged looks, and then picked up Loki and ran off to the dentist's office.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

A while later, The four who were still awake were sitting in the dentist's waiting room, obviously to wait for Loki to be finished with his appointment, which was going to start in about five or ten minutes. They didn't have to worry about Loki running once he woke up: Megumi happened to have a slightly larger than average purse and from it she had pulled what they had used to insure Loki stayed in the dentist chair.

"I'm really sorry we had to use up that entire roll of duct tape," Yamino apologized to his friend.

"Oh, it's alright," she said with a smile. "I've got another roll, see?" And she withdrew a second roll of silver adhesive.

Yamino was impressed. "What else do you have in there, anyway?"

"You name it, I've got it," Megumi said, smiling as though it was meant as a challenge.

Yamino took up on it. "Okay…screwdrivers?"

A little rustling in the purse. "Regular or needle nose?"

"Soy sauce?"

"Five packets!"

"Dental floss?"

"Waxed and unwaxed!"

"Nail clippers?"

"Three pairs. C'mon, challenge me here!"

"Tire repair kit."

"Right here."

"Bird seed?"

"Here we go!"

"A copy of War and Peace!"

"Actually…"

"Wow," Yamino commented as he took the book himself to get a better look at it. "I must admit, there probably isn't anyone else who packs their purse like you do."

Megumi grinned as she took back the book. "If it's not in my purse, you probably won't need it anyway," she said happily.

"That's not the best part" Midori told him, reaching in and withdrawing…a smaller purse. "It's a baby purse! Her purse is pregnant!"

Yamino chuckled a little. "Don't encourage her," Megumi scolded him as she took back the tiny purse, but she was smiling.

Kori was being uncharacteristically quiet, and kept tossing glances at the door through which the dentist's room or whatever it's called was, where Loki was. Yamino noticed that and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "He'll be fine, even if he is a little panicky," he told her.

She nodded. "I know. I'm more worried about the head blow. I hope he's okay when he-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

"…wakes up," Kori finished.

"He sounds peachy to me," Midori commented as Loki started screaming again. Kori and Yamino exchanged looks. Loki was going to absolutely _hate_ them for a while…

The screaming changed a bit as the appointment went on, getting louder or softer or more gurgley but never really ceasing except for Loki to take a breath. By the middle of the appointment, a little of Megumi's duct tape had to be used as a threat to make sure neither Yamino nor Kori went back there themselves to make sure the dentist wasn't really hurting Loki. Finally, an hour later, Loki's screaming stopped without warning, and they didn't know whether that was a good sign, a bad sign, or just a sign that Loki had passed out from lack of oxygen due to the screaming.

Thank every god that was out there, it was the first. A few minutes later, Loki came out of the back rooms, looking rather surprised and rubbing the side of his mouth as though he couldn't believe it. And he wasn't wincing in pain!

Yamino gave a relieved smile and Kori a smug smirk, both of which he just looked at and shrugged. He did, however, shoot the evil eye at Midori and Megumi. "A manhole cover? And all that duct tape? What is _wrong_ with you people!?"

"I don't know" Midori told him happily. Megumi just grimaced a little and looked apologetic.

"So you forgive me?" Yamino asked hopefully.

Loki looked him over, and then shrugged. "I'll have to think about it."

Kori scowled at him. "Loki…"

"Okay, okay, you were right, I'm sorry I ran, I forgive you," he said, tossing his hands up in a gesture of defeat. Yamino looked beyond relieved. Kori just smirked again.

A dentist came out then, saying words that, despite how well this turned out this time, struck terror in Loki's heart.

"Sir, about your next appointment…"

(And lo, it is done! Wow. A whopping sixteen pages on word, not counting the Author's Notes I put in at the beginning and end! I do hope that makes up for my lack of updating.

Anyway, I've been thinking about making a companion fic to this one. It won't be a fic per say, it'll mostly be little drabbles connected to this fic but not actually part of the plot, like random flashbacks to the world of the gods or side stories like this one. What say you?

Comment on that in your reviews, if you please. Oh, and I've fleshed out Megumi and Midori's character a bit, and their relationship with the other characters (or at least with Yamino and Loki, seeing as they're the only characters they really interacted with). Commentary on that would also be vastly appreciated.

So, anyway, read (oh wait, you already did that part…) and review please! I promise the following chapter will not only go back to the actual story, but introduce, ta-da, another OC! Also, it'll have Narugami in it. Because I personally feel more Narugami tends to make everything a little better.

I bid you adieu!))


	11. New Girls and Narugami's New Job

.((Okay, now I will get back to the storyline, as I'm sure you're all as eager to see as I am. And another of the vast array of OCs I've come up with for your entertainment is going to come in! Actually, two are, but only one is really going to be important right now.

No, I don't own Sakura Kinoshita, or her characters, or the Norse gods. If I owned any of those things, do you really think I'd be on fanfic? Silly people…

This is going to be another long chappie, and I'm going to try to get into the habit of making longer chapters, as opposed to earlier, when I only had chapters that were six or seven pages on Word tops. I'm aiming for 10 or more now, partially to keep the story going, and partially because I had a lot of fun writing that long spoof chapter. Well, this one might be a bit shorted, because the stuff that's going to happen might only be enough to fill out less than ten pages, but most chapters from now on will be longer, I assure you.

Anyway, as always, review shout outs commence! Although I only have two at this point…wah.

Seven Midnights: Aw, Midori isn't _that_ scary, is she? Like Loki said, she won't eat you. Probably. And I'm glad you found the dentist thing funny. I like playing with the way Loki, a god who should be most mature and dignified, can act totally silly and childish when the mood strikes him.

YuukiHaruka: I'm glad you like Midori, she's fun to write. Her character will eventually become more serious as the story goes on, but she'll never stop being goofy and referring to herself in third person.

Okay, now onto the-oh wait! I almost forgot! You know how sometimes, when a character is introduced, the anime goes out of its way to not show their eyes to make them seem more mysterious, and they'll make their faces all shadowy? Like how they did to Frey and Hel when they were first introduced? I'm going to describe the characters that will later be revealed to be important, but not mention their eye colors, because I want you to try to picture them like that, with the shadowy faces, okay? Okay!

NOW it's finally story time…))

Time goes on, not just for gods but for the rest of the world at large. Before a lot of the people in the world really noticed, it was the week again for all. This included the students at an all-girls high school not too far from Mayura and Narugami's, which is where we stop by now, right after lunch in the middle of the week.

"Aw, lunch is over already!?" moaned one of the first year students, a lively looking girl of about fifteen years with vibrant red hair that was long enough for her to sit on. "I'm still hungry!"

"What do you mean?" laughed one of her friends, another girl in her class with pulled back red-brown hair wrapped in a scarf and glasses perched on her nose, who stood a good head taller than her companion. "You ate three times as much as me, and I eat twice as much as everyone else!"

"How can you guys eat so much and still stay skinny?" asked another girl and the first two both laughed.

"I really didn't know how our metabolisms handle it myself," the girl with the glasses and scarf told the other, less fortunate friend, who simply shrugged and went to her seat, as the bell rang and signaled the official end of lunch break.

"Class is starting soon," commented the girl in glasses as she and the red head took their seats, which were next to each other. "We have a substitute teacher today for our afternoon classes. How are you going to explain away the uniform?" For, while she and all the others wore an outfit of red double-breasted blazers and black short-skirted dresses under the coats, the red-head deigned fit to instead wear a uniform that consisted of a green vest, a white shirt with a high collar which was tied shut with a green ribbon, and a brown skirt.

"What's to explain?" the red-head asked, sounding surprised that the outfit might be considered a violation by anyone. "Where I come from, this is the traditional garment of scholarly pursuit, at least for females. It's to be revered, in a way." Her friend wasn't really listening, which seemed to annoy the red-head. "Hey! Show some respect, would ya!?"

Wow, is it just me, or is the idea of a person in a green school uniform with a huge appetite hauntingly familiar…?

Anyway, the substitute came in and, without hesitation, went right to calling roll. The first name called was the red-head's: "Nariko Ikazuchi?"

She responded, then immediately went into her thoughts as her friend called out her piece when "Rokia Kekkai" was called. Nariko's thoughts were mostly of her schedule. She had a new job to get to today after school…

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"_Another_ new job?" Loki asked incredulously, responding to Mayura's claim that Narukami wouldn't be showing up after school that day due to having to go to a new workplace. Again.

"I know," Mayura agreed with a sigh. "I know he has to pay for his apartment and all, but it gets a little silly sometimes. Doesn't he understand mystery is better than a place to sleep!? I mean, life without mystery isn't life at all! And how can work be better than ghosts or strange phenomena or the other cool stuff we get here What about STRANGE MYSTERIES!?"

Loki sweatdropped. This was a typical Mayura moment. Still, she was at least right about the total ridiculousness of Narukami's apparent inability to either keep a job for more than a couple of weeks or work at just one place. Being a hard worker was one thing, being totally freakish about your jobs was quite another. But then again, Loki was slightly lazy himself, and probably didn't have the right to talk.

Loki gazed out of the window, content to let Mayura rant about whatever it was she was ranting about now as he thought about his own situation. Before he'd run into Kori, he'd had a dream about his family that had, of course, included her previous incarnation, Siguna. The night before, another seemingly random memory had come to mind while he slept.

It had not been any particularly important moment, but rather just one incident among many. It had concerned not just Loki, but Vali, who was simply gone now…and it had included Thor and Thrud. It had been a memory of one of the numerous incidents where Vali had enraged Thrud to the point where she chased the boy about Asgard, and left Loki trying to calm down Thrud's furious father before Thor killed the little bug Loki called his son.

For a second, Loki had to smile to himself about the memory-dream. For all of the problems Vali's inability to resist taunting Thrud had caused, Loki had to say he found the whole thing rather amusing. Even when he had to be serious to calm down Thor, Loki would always have been just barely resisting the urge to laugh at Vali's antics.

The smile faded quickly, though, as reality reared its ugly head: the chances of Loki ever seeing his fun-loving and fast-footed son again were several trillion to less than one, if there even was a chance. And that left one person in the dream unaccounted for as far as Loki could see: Thrud.

Was it another prophecy? Loki wasn't sure, but had been planning to at least warn Narukami of the possible hint as to what the future held. It looked like he wouldn't get to do so, though.

So all he could do was hope for the best…and hope for Mayura to hurry up and shut her mouth.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Narugami, meanwhile, was already hard at work at his new job at a relatively local fast food joint. He'd had jobs similar to this one before, and had pretty good idea of what he was doing, and as such had been put right to work cooking the food instead of having to work at the cash register first, as was usually the case. That, he decided, was good. He kinda had a habit of yelling at some of the customers every now and again when they got on his nerves. Particularly when it involved their wasting food.

Still, working in the back made him hungry. He'd always had this problem when he worked at places that sold food. That was actually the main reason he got fired so much: early on, it was eating the customers' food (he'd gotten out of that habit pretty quickly once he realized is was pretty much stealing), but now it was usually taking lunch breaks that were too numerous and too long. That wasn't going to happen this time!

"Hey, there's two new people!" a coworker announced in surprise when he came back and spotted Narugami already hard at work. "That's kinda weird. I just hope you're as hard a worker as that new girl at the cash register. She's really into this."

That caught Narugami's attention. Was he being compared to this new girl, apparently? He grinned to himself. If there was one thing that could make him "get into" doing anything, it was the idea that it was a competition!

An order came in just then. Narugami had it done to perfection in about a minute, which was fast even for a fast food joint. _Try and top that, new girl!_

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

That new girl, as I'm sure you've already guessed, was little red-haired Nariko Ikazuchi, who was smiling the warmest smile most of the customers had seen all day and being friendly enough to improve their moods in addition to taking their orders. She also went out of her way to suggest the best foods for them to try (which just happened to be the most expensive). She was determined, after several jobs which she had been compelled to quit so she wouldn't get fired, to be the ideal worker for this place.

She was having a bit of a hard time with it, though, since the food was coming so quickly. Usually she'd have a second to mentally check herself to ensure she'd made no mistakes in between sending the order back to the kitchen and receiving it. Not so here: it was coming before she knew it, and that made the customers come even faster. At this rate, she'd get worn out! Plus, the food was cooked to perfection, and it was making her mouth water. That wasn't good news, she couldn't ask for an early break on her first day!

"Wow, that's quick," commented the other cashier as the order she'd taken was given to her. "It must be that new guy."

"New guy?" Nariko asked, suddenly feeling like her position was being threatened.

The other cashier nodded. "Yeah, it's a little weird that they hired two new people in one day, but whatever, we needed help. And this guy is _good_! Barely been here a day and I'm already starting to think he might be our next employee of the month!"

That got Nariko's blood boiling…but in a good way. She _adored_ having a good contest. And this mysterious other newbie was going to give it to her! What luck!

When the next customer came in, she was beyond enthusiastic, just barely not scaring them away. She described the food so vividly they couldn't resist buying either the food she spoke of or larger amounts of what they had been planning to buy anyway. The orders came out slightly slower. Ha ha! She was wearing him down!

_Top this, new guy!_ She thought happily.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A couple hours later, Nariko finally took her much needed break. She'd wanted to meet the new guy who was giving her such a good time competing against, but his break had apparently already happened, and she didn't want to go back into the kitchens and disturb anyone. She did at least get aquainted with his cooking, which was pretty good, as Nariko was starving and ordered about half of the items on the menu, cholesterol be damned.

"Wow," commented a coworker who was also on break, laughing. "You sure can eat! Are you sure that's healthy?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm hungry," Nariko said with a shrug.

"I imagine so, after all the work you did," the coworker continued, this time looking a bit impressed. "You sure are a hard worker. You and that new guy are both something fierce!"

Nariko grinned at that. "I know, he must be good, but I'm determined to be the best!" Nariko announced, resuming her eating.

The coworker raised an eyebrow, a bit befuddled. He waited a second for her to swallow before asking her carefully, "Do you know him?"

"Nope. Haven't even seen him. But I'm gonna beat him. I love a challenge."

"Any particular reason why…?"

"It helps me forget."

"Forget what?"

Nariko sighed, pausing in her eating. "Well, I used to have a family member who I was really close to. But he had to go one day and he never came back. I looked for him, but I couldn't find him, and now I don't know where to go." She shook her head. "I think about him all the time, but it makes me feel empty inside, like something is missing. So, I work like crazy and take any challenge I can, so I have something else to focus on." She smiled weakly. "I guess I'm a little crazy…"

The coworker shook his head, as understanding as he could be. "You're not crazy at all," he assured her. And with that, he got up and left her to eat and think her own thoughts.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Finally, hours later, when the sun was setting, Nariko was done with her duties for the day. The restaurant had to close down early because they were running low on supplies! On the other hand, they'd made more money in that one day than they usually did in a week…

Nariko stretched, content with her day despite being just a little tired. She liked this job! She would be able go out with a smile on her face. She also planned to get as many of her classmates to come as possible.

"Oh, Nariko!" called out a coworker, different from the nice boy from before. "You're going down the left street when you go, right?"

"Um, yeah, why?" Nariko asked, wondering what was wanted of her.

"That new guy went out that way too, and he forgot his kendo sword!" the coworker explained, holding out the sword for her to see as a visual aid. One glimpse, and Nariko felt herself almost jump. It couldn't be…

"Since you're going that way anyway, could you rush a bit and try to find him and give it to him?"

"Uh…sure."

"Cool, here!" the coworker said, tossing her the wooden blade and walking away. When Nariko caught it, she felt a surge of some sort race down her spine. Nariko stared at what she held for a minute, unable to comprehend that this sword might actually be…

Finally, she shook her head. "No, there's no way this could really be…" she couldn't even finish her sentence, because the empty hole within her was widening by the second. Instead, she just turned to the door.

Odd, it had started raining, somehow, when she got the sword. But that proved nothing except that you couldn't trust weathermen, she told herself. She then headed out in the direction of her own apartment and the owner of the sword. She had no coat, but didn't care. She liked the rain…

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Narugami was running as fast as his legs would carry him to the restaurant. How could he possibly be so stupid as to lose his precious Mjollnir!? Again, come to think of it…he had been so busy trying to best the new girl he'd never even seen that he'd forgotten his valued partner!

While he didn't mind the sudden rain that had started a minute or so before, he had to admit he was a bit startled. Being a thunder god, he could typically tell when storms were coming in, but this one was unprecedented. Odd.

But before he dealt with that, he'd have to find his most prized possession besides his own family.

Oh, the irony of what's about to occur that I'm sure you've predicted already.

Narugami, being hopelessly distracted, almost ran into a girl coming the opposite direction. He stopped just barely in time, but she yelped and jumped back, dropping what she was carrying, which was…

"My Mjollnir!" Narugami exclaimed, overjoyed. He was about to reach down to grab it when he heard the girl he'd almost knocked down squeak, as though shocked beyond any comprehension. Narugami looked up, meeting her eyes…

Her eyes were the exact some shape and shade of brown as his!

It took him a second to get beyond that and take in the rest of her. Bright red hair…a few freckles…small, lithe body structure…the appropriate garb of a scholar…

"No way," Narugami said aloud to himself as he absorbed all of this. "No way. No way. How can it…how did you…what is this…ARGH!" He grabbed his hair and yanked at it, shaking his head wildly as his brain went on overload.

The girl slowly reached out towards him, eventually taking hold of the front of his shirt. He stopped freaking out and looked down at her soaked, stunned face. There was a divine hope in her eyes, and a great respect that Narugami, who was truly the great storm deity Thor, had only seen on one person's face before, meaning she had to be that person…

"Thrud?" Narugami breathed, as though speaking his daughter's name too loudly would make her vanish. As soon as he spoke it, a clap of thunder and flash of lightning filled the sky at once, an expression of the emotions of the god who once ruled them.

Nariko, hearing her true name, couldn't hold back anymore. Her eyes filled with tears. "Father, it _is_ you!" she shouted, and she threw herself at him, embracing him tightly.

It took Narugami a second to completely believe this was really happening, but once he did, he instantly hugged his daughter back. He was speechless with emotion, and so he just clutched his child as tightly to him as he could without hurting her.

Nariko, burying her face in Narugami's shirt, was both smiling like a madmad and crying her eyes out. The emptiness from before was disintegrating like a sugar cube in water. Her father, her dear father who had always treasured, favorite, doted upon, and generally loved her, was actually here! Everything was right in the world, even the freezing rain and near constant lightning and thunder.

Thus, father and daughter were reunited.

((D'awwww, cute little scene at the end there! Yeah, I'm afraid Nariko's identity as Thrud, daughter of Thor, was rather obvious, and the chapter a bit on the short side, but like I said, that just the nature of how she was to be introduced unless I wanted to ruin it, which I obviously didn't. As is also obvious, she and her dad have a very special father-daughter relationship.

Just so you know, that mention of Narugami losing Mjollnir before is a maga reference. In the last chapter of the first manga (released in America, anyway), there is a story that involves Narugami losing Mjollnir and Loki finding it. Hence, here, he lost Mjollnir _again_. Keep it together, would you, Narukami!? Hahaha.

Anyway, although I get the distinct feeling I've missed something here, I finish this chappie! I plan to post the next one next Sunday! Look forward to it!))


	12. Reintroduction

Hailey Davis

.((So, after that insufferably sappy reunion scene, Narugami/Thor has found Nariko/Thrud, his daughter, is in Midgard. And we have found that said daughter is, personality-wise, a slightly more chipper and less oblivious version of her dad. But there are a couple questions that have yet to be answered. Namely, how is Loki going to react to his son Vali's "enemy" being around? And what is Thrud doing on Midgard at all? That, my dear readers, is where I come in with this chapter.

Oh, and though it really doesn't matter, I really feel like explaining Nariko's name…you see, Nariko means "child of the storm," and her last name, Ikazuchi, means "lightning." So, yeah, her name is rather obvious.

Um, remember how a couple of chappies ago I commented that I might make a companion fic to this one where I'd post little oneshots and flashbacks into the lives of the gods and such, which, although interesting and allowing insight into the characters' personalities, would be pretty much unnecessary to the plot? I'm seriously considering that. But I want to know your opinion on whether that's a good idea. I'm thinking about calling it "The Lives of the Gods." Please, when you review this chapter, give me your two cents. Thank you.

Yes, yes, review shout outs now…

Seven Midnights: Yeah, I hoped people would like that cute little reunion scene. I'm glad you do. And yes, I agree, having a special weapon like Narugami has his Mjollnir would be most epic. And unlike him, you could try harder not to lose it! Haha.

Melissa Brandybuck: Yay, another review! I understand the lack of review, it's your computer's fault. I'm glad that you're glad Loki went to the dentist and Narugami found his kid.

The Immortal Priestess: First of all, cool name. Second, thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked the reunion scene, I was afraid it was too corny.

Alright, let's go! Story time, kiddies!))

Loki sat in the living room of his house, staring out at the rain contemplatively. This storm, somehow, struck him as unordinary for reasons beyond the lack of warning before it hit.

He was sure, almost positive, that Thrud was on Midgard and that his dream predicted her finding the gods he was in communication with. Most likely, it would be Narukami, seeing as Thrud was her daddy's little girl and if there was one god she's want to run into, it'd be him. Plus, it would explain the thunder storm: Narukami's excitement at finding his precious daughter might make him lose a little control of his powers.

But that still left a question eating at him. Why, he tried to figure out, was Thrud even there? What was she doing? Was she an assassin? He doubted it. If she was out to kill him, she probably would have found him by now, and besides, he figured she'd be like her father and decide killing Loki wasn't worth the trouble or the sin. But then what was she doing in the meantime? And how had she gotten there? Odin, for all his faults, cared about his offspring, and would have been more careful about Thor's children after the failure of their father…right?

Loki sighed miserably. He was chasing himself around in circles like a dog chasing its tail (unless it was Fenrir, who was too smart for that). Now he was getting a headache. Why did his life have to be so complicated? Other than the obvious reason of being a god, of course…

"Master Loki, perhaps you should go upstairs and get some sleep," Yamino suggested, coming into the room with a tray of snacks for his father, and Ecchan carried on his head a cup of tea for the god of mischief.

Loki shook his head, accepting the tea from the spirit when he floated over to him. "No, I'm sure that Narukami will show up soon and he'll have someone else in tow. I have questions for that someone, so I should be awake."

"And that someone would be…?" Yamino inquired, curious.

"Thor's daughter Thrud," Loki said after a slight second of hesitation. "I had a dream last night similar to the one I had before we found Kori, so I'm sure of this. I need to find out why she's here. Oh, and by the way, when she comes, don't tell her you're really Midgardsornr."

"I don't see any reason why I would, but…why shouldn't I?"

"Because Thrud places a lot more stock in the prophecy of Ragnarok than Narukami does. That prophecy claims you're going to kill Thor, her beloved father. I highly doubt _that_ part of the prophecy is correct, but Thrud does, and if she finds out whom you are…well, she has the same temper as her father, so you can guess what'll happen."

"Destruction and mayhem?"

"Most likely."

"I'll keep my mouth shut," Yamino told Master Loki, looking a bit nervous now. Loki would have reassured him, but the door suddenly opened, as the guests who entered were too hurried to get where it was dry and warm to bother ringing the doorbell and waiting for an answer.

"Hey, everybody!" called out Narugami's voice through the house, louder than usual and incredibly happy.

"Cool house! Who live here?" rang out a girl's voice afterward, and Loki recognized the one questioning Narukami. He had been right…

"You'll see!" Narugami answered, his voice getting louder, meaning he was coming to the room Loki was in without even waiting for Loki's responding greeting. Typical.

Within a few seconds, his head popped in the doorway. "Hey, Loki, how's it going?" he asked with a grin.

"Loki!?" repeated the girl's voice, and sure enough, who should step out from behind Narukami but his redheaded, freckle faced, overly energetic daughter Thrud. "That's really Loki!? He's so tiny now! He looks like a chibi or a doll or something! I wanna hug him!"

"Don't you dare," Loki warned.

Thrud blinked, and then turned to her father and grinned. "He hasn't changed from being in the human realms, has he?"

"Nope," Narugami agreed, smiling back. He nodded at Yamino. "Hey, Four-Eyes," he said absently, as he still called Yamino the nickname when Kori wasn't around to yell at him about it.

Thrud glanced at Yamino with a curious look on her face. "Hey dad, who's he?" she asked.

Narugami didn't answer. Instead, he told her "Hey, you're not supposed to call me 'dad' here, remember? I'm going by the name Narugami, just like you're calling yourself Nariko."

"Nariko?" Loki repeated. "That's a bit obvious, don't you think?"

Nariko-Thrud shot a look at Loki. "You should shut that smart mouth of yours!" she informed him, receiving only a smirk in return. "You're as bad as Vali was…"

Loki sighed. "No, if I was as bad as Vali, you'd be shouting death threats by now, and I'd probably be heading for the nearest tree."

"True," Nariko-Thrud agreed reluctantly. Then she turned back to Yamino. She opened her mouth, probably to ask his identity again, but he held out his tray of food to her, and she was instantly distracted by the cookies and little snack cakes before her. "Yum!" she exclaimed, helping herself to a handful, as did Narugami. Yamino and Loki both sweatdropped. Nariko-Thrud had inherited her father's appetite…

"Yamino is acting as my cook, legal guardian, and assistant here in the world of humankind," Loki explained, technically telling the truth, but leaving out one huge detail. It would satisfy Thrud temporarily, he was sure, although she was a bit less slow than her father and would eventually come to realize that the explanation didn't answer how Yamino knew Loki and Narukami were gods. He'd have to stall a bit more. "Yamino, why don't you make some more food for these two, since they look so hungry?"

Narugami grinned as Yamino obeyed Loki and went to the kitchen. "Wait 'til you taste his cooking!" he said to Nariko-Thrud. "It's some of the best I've ever had!"

"Better than the world of the gods?" Nariko-Thrud asked, a bit skeptical.

"I dunno, maybe," Narugami replied with a shrug.

Nariko-Thrud opened her mouth to respond, but Loki cut her off. "Thrud-"

"That's Nariko, now!"

"Sorry, I meant to say Nariko…I was wondering just what you're doing here on Midgard."

"What do you mean?'

"Well, since the majority of deities who come here are out to kill me on Odin's orders…"

Nariko let out a bark of laughter. "Loki, if I wanted to kill you, don't you think I would've attacked you already?"

"You're father's not out to get me, so I assume you'd do it when he wasn't around."

Nariko saw the logic in that. "No, Loki, I don't feel I have any real reason to kill you. Yet, anyway." She was, of course, referring to the fact that she'd be more than happy to do so if she thought Ragnarok was approaching, which Loki already knew.

"Of course. Then, why were you brought here?"

Nariko took the time to sit in a cushioned chair before answering. "Well, the Norns did."

"The Norns?" Narugami questioned, and Loki quickly realized that Narugami knew no more than he did. Most likely, he'd been so glad to see his child he hadn't considered where she'd come from.

Nariko nodded. "Yes. On Grandfather Odin's suggestion," Nariko confirmed. "They were planning to use me for something…I think maybe to get my dad to stop assisting you, Loki. But I didn't want to be used and I didn't want to kill you without a very, very good reason. So, they left me alone and said they'd call me only if they had no other choice. They got me a school to go to and an apartment…but one day, they just stopped paying for it and pretty much vanished."

"That must be when they changed their minds about killing me…" Loki thought aloud. "More likely than not they assumed that, since Odin suggested you come down here, he'd take you back once they stopped working for him."

"Well, he didn't," Nariko said. "I had to take up a bunch of jobs to pay for myself. I looked for a while to see if I could find dad-I mean, Narugami-but I couldn't. I actually kinda gave up. I can't believe I found him again!" And she smiled brightly at her father, who returned the warm grin.

Loki thought about that. Perhaps Odin was planning on using Nariko for his ends later. Or maybe he had been hoping she'd find her dear father again…_Odin, _Loki wondered, _just what are you thinking…?_

Spica walked in then, carrying a tray of a large amount of various foods. Nariko and Narugami immediately reached out for it. Spica handed it to them, and then tossed Loki a questioning look about the new girl. Loki just shrugged.

"Who's she?" Nariko asked through a mouthful of rice.

Loki resisted the urge to accuse her of being just as rude as her father could be. Instead, he answered truthfully "Her name here is Spica. She's actually my wife among the giants, Angerboda, the mother of Fenrir, Hel, and Jormungand." He saw Nariko pause shoveling food into her mouth at the last name, the name predicted to belong to the creature that would murder her dear father, but then she just went on eating. Food obviously took precedence over prophecies that hadn't yet come true. Although not the brightest crayon in the box, Loki decided, she did have a sense of logic.

After a little while, Yamino came in himself with drinks for the thunder deities, flowed by a curious Fenrir. Nariko glanced at the puppy and almost choked on a kelp roll. "Is that _Fenrir_!?" she asked once she'd forced it down. "He used to be big enough to actually scare me! He's just a little furball now!"

"Watch it, girly," Fenrir told her with a growl, but then any threatening aura he had vanished as he leapt into his father's lap and began wagging his tail wildly. Nariko exchanged looks with Narugami, apparently unaware of how similar her own feelings for her father were with Fenrir's for Loki.

After a little while, Nariko put down her bowl, looked Yamino in the eye, and asked what Loki knew was coming: "Seriously, though, who are you really? Because I don't think Loki would have just told a random human who he really was, no matter how good a cook he is."

"I'm glad you like the food," Yamino said first. "As for the question…well, it's a bit of a long story, and I don't think you really want to hear it."

"Yes I do!" Nariko assured him. Yamino shook his head. She turned to Spica and got the same reaction. She glanced at Loki, who was petting Fenrir and very clearly not looking at her or making eye contact.

So she tried a different strategy. "Can you tell me who he is, Daddy?" she asked Narukami, who stopped eating himself and looked at her. Loki cursed inwardly. Thor was a total sucker for his daughter, especially when she pulled the "Daddy" thing on him!

"Well…" Narugami said, stalling a little and not quite meeting her eye himself. Nariko pouted cutely, though, and any resolve he had crumbled immediately. "Okay…but you have to promise not to flip out."

"I won't! I promise!" Nariko sweetly assured him, in a voice Loki was sure wasn't really trustworthy. Something destructive this way comes…

"He's really Loki's son, the Midgard Serpent," Narugami told his daughter without a moment of hesitation as soon as she "promised" not to freak out.

She stared at him for a second, and then looked at Loki, then at Spica, then at Yamino, then at her father again, then back at Yamino. And then she broke her promise. "MONSTER! BEAST! DESTROYER!" she shrieked, standing on her chair. She would have lunged for him, but Narugami quick reflexes and might have actually half expected this, and he managed to grab Nariko by the shirt, yank her off the chair and then restrain her as she flailed and fought to try and get at Yamino, still shrieking. The food was sent flying everywhere, and Fenrir, obviously not too concerned with this temper tantrum, jumped off of Loki's lap to get himself a bite.

"Calm down! Calm down! Calm down, would ya!?" Narugami had to shout to be heard over his daughter's screaming, and therefore he was not at all calming.

"I WILL _NOT_ CALM DOWN!" Nariko answered without hesitation, practically snarling. "THAT'S THE MIDGARD SERPENT! THAT'S JORMUNGAND! DON'T YOU REMEMBER THE PROPHECY!? HE'S SUPPOSED TO KILL YOU! ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU TRUST THIS ABOMINATION!?"

Yamino just looked over at Loki, very much nervous and very unsure of his next move. Loki, trying to maintain a calm expression despite the fact that this both amused and annoyed him greatly, motioned for Yamino to go to the kitchen to wait this out. Yamino practically bolted out of the room, followed closely by Spica and Ecchan. Fenrir just chuckled and kept eating.

"YOU'RE LETTING HIM GET AWAY, DAD!" yelled Nariko in horror and rage. "WHY DON'T YOU FIGHT HIM!? WHY DON'T YOU KILL HIM BEFORE HE KILLS YOU!?"

"Because I really don't think he'll kill me!" came the answer. Nariko stopped in mid-flail and turned back to look at her father, who pointedly didn't let go of her. After waiting a second to be sure she wasn't going to shriek in his face, Narugami continued. "He's a total wimp. He doesn't like fighting or even know how to, and he wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone me."

Nariko blinked at him, utterly dumbfounded by this development. "But-but-but-but-how do you know he won't poison the food he gives you!?" she asked in total and complete seriousness.

Narugami actually laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

"Of course not!" Nariko shouted, looking rather insulted about not being taken seriously in what was obviously a very serious discussion in her eyes.

Loki reentered the conversation then, having gotten over Narugami calling his son a 'wimp.' "Nariko, the likelihood of Yamino poisoning someone's food is about the same as your father throwing away Mjollnir. In other words, it's not about to happen unless the world goes even crazier than it already is."

Nariko didn't look convinced. "But haven't you fought Midgardsornr before, dad? Even the humans know about that!"

Narugami shrugged as well as he could without letting go of Nariko, who would doubtlessly run off and throttle Yamino if he did. "Once or twice, yeah. But he didn't exactly have a choice. I mean…I kinda just went right for him with Mjollnir just because I was bored and in a bad mood. It was fight back or get wailed on for him." As he said this, he made a point of not looking at Loki, who was trying to give him a meaningful look or two about this subject.

Nariko didn't give up so easily. "If you won't do anything, dad, then I will!" she announced, which just caused Narugami to tighten his hold on her and Loki to roll his eyes.

Fenrir glanced up at the red head. "What do you plan to do to him?" he asked, not seeming to deem her much of a threat but curious about the methods she'd use.

"This!" Nariko told him, and she thrust forward a fist as well as she could, punching an imaginary Yamino in the gut. Her fist crackled with bright lightning, and the speed and force of the jab would be enough to break a couple ribs if it was aimed right. It could seriously hurt a person, maybe even do permanent damage! "And then I'll go for his face a few times, break his skull a bit!"

Narugami and Fenrir were a bit startled by this violent outburst, but Loki knew better: as he'd told Yamino earlier, she'd inherited her temper from her dear old dad. He actually found it a little funny that Narugami seemed rather amazed by his daughter's threats. Her powers were what intrigued Loki more. Nariko's inherited abilities were stronger than he'd assumed. Now if only she had control…

Fenrir growled at the young thunder goddess. "Hey, he may be annoying, but you _don't _mess with my family, kid!" he informed her, the fur on his back bristling.

"Pipe down, you furball!" she snapped, and Fenrir might have lunged at her just like she'd tried to lunge for Yamino, had Loki not stood up.

"I apologize in advance for this, Nariko, Narukami," he said, summoning his staff.

Narugami scowled. "What're you doing?" he asked suspiciously. "What're you apologizing about?"

"This," Loki said, and he did what he had done to Heimdall several days earlier: he gave Nariko a good whack on her head, and although her head was harder than Heimdall's, she fared no better to the magic-absorbing wand. She fainted, leaving Narugami no longer restraining her but holding her up.

"LOKI!" Narugami shouted as Fenrir let out a literal bark of laughter. "What the hell was that!?"

"That, Thor, was the most surefire way of stopping your offspring before she did serious harm to Yamino, or anyone or anything else, for that matter," Loki said calmly. "You really should try to-"

"Try to what?" Narugami snarled.

Loki smiled innocently. "Nothing. I wasn't going to say anything."

"I'll believe that when Jotunheim melts," Narugami muttered, setting down Nariko in the chair. "But whatever. I really didn't expect her to freak out so much…"

"Is that an apology?"

"Of course not."

"Just checking," Loki said with a shrug. "Anyway, what happens now?"

"Hmm?" Narugami glanced back at the irritating, smart-mouthed jerk he grudgingly called his friend and ally. Loki had gone from playful, mischievous, and lighthearted to serious, concerned and contemplative in a single moment. _Moody little guy,_ Narugami thought but was smart enough to keep to himself.

"I mean, what will Odin do now? I was hoping Nariko, having stayed in Asgard for a while after we left, would provide some answers about his goals, but all she brought was more questions."

"Questions? Like what?"

"Like why Odin didn't take her back, or try to use her? Why did he even suggest she come here in the first place? Why did it take her so long to find us, why couldn't you sense her like you could in the world of the gods? And exactly what is it that Odin's planning at all?"

Narugami considered these dilemmas, and then looked at his unconscious daughter. "She is…complicating things, huh?" he said.

"Now, don't get me wrong," Loki said quickly, "Having her around will probably be very useful, and it certainly will put you in a good mood for a while. But still, she didn't have the answers I was rather hoping she would."

Narugami nodded, still looking at Nariko affectionately. "Whatever. Answers or not, I'm glad she's here."

"Of course," Loki conceded, concluding this line of conversation. "You should probably get her home, now, and then get home yourself. Do you know where she lives?"

"Yeah, she told me the address."

"Good. In that case, I bid you goodnight," Loki told him, and then he got up and walked to the kitchen to ensure Yamino that the threat of death was over for now, leaving Narugami wondering just how he was going to get Nariko all the way to her apartment when she was unconscious.

((Yeah, yeah, kinda fillery, deal with it. I wanted to flesh out Nariko's character a bit. Plus, I thought her flipping out about Yamino would be funny.

I doubt any of you don't know this, but just to be safe: Jotunheim is the world of the ice giants. Naturally, one can assume the place was cold a lot of the time. Hence, Narugami used it in a clever spin on "when hell freezes over."

Anyway, please, review this well, answer the questions from earlier, and stay tuned for the next update on Saturday!))


	13. An Unfortunate Triumph

Chapter thirteen

.((Okay, peoples, now this is going to be-dah dah dah!-another long-ass chapter! Even longer than the other long chapter, maybe! And, unlike usually, I give you NO HINTS about what's going to happen! Is it a spoof chapter? A serious one? Epic fight scene? You'll never know! WAHAHAH…wait, you're gonna read it…well, damn. Never mind.

Anyway, disclaimer time: I do not own the Norse myths (not that I haven't tried), nor do I own any of the characterization made by Sakura Kinoshita.

Speaking of her characterization, despite my proclamation that I give no hints, I will have to comment about Odin. He's going to, OMFG, _actually appear _in this chappie! I have reason to believe that he also appears in one or more of the Loki mangas that wasn't/weren't released in America. As such, I feel the need to remind you all that the only manga this fic follows is the first one in which Spica was introduced. The Odin I'm introducing was created before I knew Odin ever would appear, and is a different person. DO NOT read this chapter and picture Odin looking the same way he does in that manga, because he DOESN'T.

Also, several things in this chapter were either borrowed from or inspired by other people's fanfics or arts. Credit will be given at the end of the chapter, so as to give nothing away now.

Review shout outs, yay-ness!

Seven Midnights: I'm glad you like Nariko so much. She's a lot of fun to write. Oh, and it's good to know that people got that Jotunheim joke.

Gemini Artemis: You know, I can honestly say I didn't really notice how different Nariko was from Narugami: I was afraid they were actually too alike. But you're right, there are some clear differences. And thanks for your opinion on the Lives of the Gods thing! You're kinda the only one who did.

Immortal Priestess: Once again, I'm glad to see that scene wasn't corny. And good luck with your own fic!

Awright, let's get this party started!))

"I'm sorry, Allfather," Heimdall said, his head bowed in a humble display of disgrace. Odin looked upon this from his home in Asgard, contacting the watchman god via a magic mirror, not that Heimdall saw it. Heimdall, down on earth, was talking to Frey, who Odin had temporarily possessed and was controlling to speak with the god of schemes.

By the right hand of his throne sat his loyal wife, the earth goddess Frigga. She did not look very happy to see Heimdall obviously so distraught from his constant failures. Her face showed concern that he couldn't see, not that it would have done him any good.

Odin spoke, his voice ringing out loud and clear and bearing only the slightest hint of Frey's own voice. "Heimdall, apologies will get us nowhere," he informed him, and Heimdall flinched. "The assignment I gave you is the last one for you. This will be last chance. If you fail…"

"I won't fail," Heimdall declared. "I will best Loki this time, and get my revenge for you, me, Balder, and everyone in this Earth Loki will harm when Ragnarok occurs. I swear it!"

Odin smiled, and Frigga winced at how, well, evil he looked. His skin had gotten pale from time indoors due to his illness, and his face was gaunt. He scared Frigga, she admitted it, at least to herself.

"That's the spirit we're going to need, Heimdall," Odin told him, and on Earth, the watchman cracked a smile at the praise of the Allfather, of _his_ father. "If you complete this task-which I get the feeling you will-you stay on Midgard as my servant. And if you fail me again…"

"I have to go back to Bifrost until Ragnarok," Heimdall finished, his smile fading at the thought of being forced to stay on the rainbow bridge until the end days, with nothing to do but wait for the end of the worlds.

"I have confidence in you," Odin assured Heimdall, who smiled a little again. "But you better make sure that confidence isn't misplaced."

"It isn't," Heimdall said, and his image faded from the mirror. Odin looked at the now reflective surface contemplatively. His angular face, framed by slightly shaggy gray hair, sported hard eyes that may once have been kind, but now looked out on the world with little more than a cold glare from their red-gray depths.

His evil smile had been replaced with a scowl as he imagined the failure he was sure Heimdall would have despite Odin's feigned trust in him. That boy spent too much time strategizing, and simply couldn't handle himself in actual combat. If Odin hadn't been getting desperate and Heimdall hadn't begged, he never would have sent him down there in the first place.

And why was the king of the gods himself desperate? He was reminded when suddenly he felt his lungs and throat burn. He stood up only to double over coughing, falling to his knees and knocking over the mirror, which broke in two. Frigga jumped up and went to his side quickly, rubbing his back and making comforting reassurances as Odin practically hacked up a lung.

A couple servants who had been standing in the throne room, who knew better than to try to help their lord, exchanged looks. No matter how many times they or anyone else saw Odin and Frigga by each other, they would never stop being startled by the opposite appearance of the two deities.

Where Odin, due constantly feeling cold from the sickness, was clothed in thick, dark robes that made his already tall and intimidating figure even more threatening, Frigga, who only came up to her husband's shoulder, had her small body clothed in a form fitting white dress that contrasted her skin. Odin was pale; Frigga had dark skin the color of earth. His hair was thin, straight, and practically white; hers was curly, thick, and deep mahogany brown. And Odin's eyes were cold and unfeeling, whereas his wife's eyes were the color of topaz and looked upon everyone with empathy.

After several minutes, Odin finally stopped coughing. He had covered his mouth with his hand, and when he moved it away, it was red and wet with blood he'd coughed up. Frigga shuddered and wrapped her arms around her husband, who shivered as well despite the warmth the hug had to provide.

"It's Ragnarok," he rasped, half to Frigga and half to himself. "They're coming, the end days are coming…I've never been sick in my life, and now I can't go a day without choking on my blood. I used to wonder how in the nine worlds I could possibly be thought to fall, even at Ragnarok, but now I know it must be this sickness that makes me weak. This, Frigga, will be what causes my demise…"

"Don't talk like that!" Frigga said, sharply but gently. "Darling, please, you can't talk like that! You mustn't give in now, for my sake if not your own, please!"

Odin waited until she was finished with her outburst before continuing as though she hadn't spoken. "It's coming and I know it. I thought that I'd have time, but I don't…Loki must fall as soon as possible, Ragnarok must be prevented, I can't lose everything I've ever made and worked for to…to him!" He coughed a few more times, and then suddenly stood up, knocking away his wife's arms. He left her where she was on the floor of the throne room, walking out with the slightest of limps only someone who knew Odin very well, like Frigga, could perceive.

She watched him go, and then turned to the broken mirror through which Heimdall had been contacted. If only it hadn't broken! Then she could have used it…

For Frigga was actually a secret ally to Loki. So secret, in fact, that Loki himself didn't even realize it. It was she who had given her dear sister Siguna the power to go to Midgard, and it was her, not Odin, who had actually suggested to the Norns that they bring Thrud, one of the people Odin would never want to hurt and therefore the best sort of accomplice for Loki. Before long another ally would show himself, and he, too, would have Frigga behind his appearance.

But she needed Odin's magic to be of help, as her own was weak from being used to sustain the king god. So without a treasure tool such as that mirror, she was useless. Perhaps it was better for Heimdall's sake for him to get a victory, but this particular mission would be beyond problematic if Heimdall succeeded.

_Loki, I know you won't start Ragnarok, you have too much to lose. I can only hope now that you can stay safe long enough for Odin to see this too!_

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That night at a museum on the edge of the town our favorite batch of deities live in, the Phantom Thief Frey had announced his next target, which was a rare emerald found in Scandinavia. This was a bit odd: the emerald was beautiful, yes, but Frey had stolen nothing from museums or stores or people that were anything less than front page businesses, whereas this one was nearly out of business. Although his announcement had brought the place back to life a bit…

Anyway, Loki got a bad feeling about this whole thing, and as such he had made sure to get himself in on this. Upon telling the museum curator that he had some experience with Frey, he'd gotten permission to be there during the proclaimed time of the heist right away.

And so it was that Loki was wandering through the museum halls, examining the displays as he waited for midnight, when Frey would appear.

He wasn't quite alone, of course. He himself had Kori by his side, seeing as Frey liked her and she might be able to get some info out of him. Yamino, although in a different room, was also there.

Unfortunately for him, Midori the green wonder had also managed to weasel her way into this mess through Kori, and all those hired guards at the entrance had been too busy staring at her insane hair or trying to figure out how many times she'd been dropped on her head as a baby to get her out. Loki wondered how Yamino was doing, seeing as the last thing Loki had heard Midori say (while she glomped her crush) before chickened out and ditched Yamino was "I'mma eat ur face nao, k'thanx!" He shuddered and hoped Yamino wouldn't be mad at him.

He and Kori, meanwhile, were heading for the room with the emerald. It was already only about fifteen minutes until the proclaimed time of theft. The lights hadn't been turned on in that wing for some reason, making the whole place a little creepy. To alleviate the eeriness, they were having a less than deep conversation.

"Kori!" Loki almost yelled. "I already agreed that 'desu' is the most annoying word in the Japanese language, you don't have to prove it to me!"

"Desu desu desu desu desu desu!" Kori answered in a sing-song voice that made it clear she'd probably spent too much time in the same house as Midori.

"Seriously, cut it out!"

"Deeeeeeeee-suuuuuuuuu!"

"KORI!" Loki shouted, and it echoed down the empty corridor.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," Kori laughed as Loki steamed a bit. "I just couldn't resist seeing if it's as much fun as Maki and Midori seem to think it is. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't 'fun' at all," Loki mumbled, but he seemed to accept the apology. "Anyway, no offence, but when Frey shows up, how do you think you can really help? He'll probably be busy talking about how great he is to listen to you."

"Well, it's worth a shot," Kori said with a shrug. "You must think so too, or else you wouldn't have bothered to bring me here."

"Nah, I just think Midori is funny when she sees Yamino, that's all," Loki said, waving his hand as though to wave away the comment.

Kori grinned and shook her head, not believing it for a second. Loki was just trying to annoy her, probably to get her back for the "desu" thing just now. It didn't matter to her, as long as she was with him, it didn't matter how much he wanted to bug her. So long as he didn't make her jealous, she was good.

"Here we are," Loki said as he entered the room in which the emerald was displayed on a beautiful pedestal. Lying on a velvet pillow, it was the epitome of perfection, a large egg-sized green gem that had been carefully cut into a hundred-sided orb.

"Wow," Kori breathed, enthralled by the jewel. "I can see why Frey wants it, it's amazing!"

"He'll probably give it to Mayura or something," Loki muttered, looking a bit less than happy about it. In fact…he looked a little…

"Are you _jealous_, Loki!?" Kori asked, feeling her own envy begin to bubble up.

Loki turned to her with a look of shock, confusion, and maybe a bit of indignity and embarrassment. "Me!? Jealous!? Why!?"

"Well, Mayura's pretty cute, and you spend so much time with her…"

"Kori, have you hit your head recently?"

"Well, then why are you so mad about Frey liking her?"

"Because he's totally insane! He's put Mayura in danger one time! Plus, it's just annoying having to deal with him all the time."

"What exactly _is_ your relationship with that human girl anyway?" Kori asked suspiciously, eyeing Loki.

"Well, she's…I don't know what she is, but she's important. I need to protect her, and she cares about me. Like, when I almost went back to the world of the gods-"

"Wait, you could have gone _back _and you didn't!? Why not!?"

Oops. "Well, um…like I said, Mayura missed me, and, well, I didn't really know what I would do when I went back…"

"You had no reason to think _I_ wouldn't be there," Kori reminded him. "You didn't go to…see…me…" Then, suddenly, her eyes seemed to light up with fire and her face was covered with a look of rage. "ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU STAYED ON MIDGARD TO BE WITH HER INSTEAD OF GOING TO SEE ME!? LOKI, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING-"

Loki mentally prepared for the verbal barrage that was bound to occur, tried to think about how he could explain this without making it worse, and hoped Yamino was having an easier time with Midori than he was with her sister.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

He wasn't, of course. This _was_ Midori, after all. Currently Yamino was going to find the most likely entrances Frey would use (the main ones, being the most dramatic) and consequently getting very used to walking around while Midori was clinging to the back of his jacket and being dragged along behind him.

"Wheeeeeeee!" Midori sang as Yamino finished his duty and spun around to head to the jewel room. "This is fuuuuuuuuuuuuun! Let's go again! Let's go again!"

"I'd rather not," Yamino commented, seriously considering stuffing her into a conveniently placed suit of armor and leaving her there for the night. But that would be mean, so he probably wouldn't.

"Well, what do you know, it's Four-Eyes!" said someone behind Yamino. He shuddered. He recognized that voice. Of all the people, or rather gods, to show up, of course it would be…

"Hello, Narugami," he sighed, turning around again. Sure enough, dressed in a janitor's outfit (another new job!?), stood the thunder god himself. Like Yamino, he was accompanied by another, although his companion wasn't clinging to his clothes. It was Nariko, of course, who had apparently chosen to join her father on his duties and who wore a similar uniform. "Er, hello to you two, Nariko." She just glared daggers at Yamino, who swallowed and took a step back as well as he could. _And I thought Thor was scary…_

"Hey, who's that?" Narugami asked, bringing attention to the green-haired girl and fortunately distracting Nariko from Yamino.

"Midori is Midori!" she squealed happily, poking her head from behind Yamino with her trademark loony grin. "Midori Hanabusa! And who are youuuuuuuuuuuu?"

"Uh, I'm Nariko and this is Narugami," Nariko said slowly, more than a bit startled by this bizarre and enthusiastic interloper. She couldn't do too much against the Midgard Serpent with a human witness…damn.

"Hanabusa?" Narugami thought for a second. He knew that name…oh, yeah! "Are you related to someone named Kori, by any chance?"

"Yup yup yup yup yup!" Midori answered, giving a firm nod for each "yup." "She's is mah little sister. We's are all adopted. Kori acts like the big sister, so Midori calls her Big Sister, I think it's funny, do you think it's funny? I sure think it's funny! Hahahaha!" Narugami and Nariko glanced at Yamino, who shrugged and made the cuckoo sign.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Nariko asked Yamino, looking, surprise surprise, not too trusting.

"Master Loki was hired to try and stop Frey," Yamino explained. "He brought me and Kori to help. Midori…is just along for the ride."

"Why is she clinging to your jacket like that?" Narugami inquired.

Yamino had to take a second to resist the urge to say something that wasn't very polite, and then answered reluctantly "Because she likes me."

"I wuvs you!" Midori agreed, smiling cutely and snuggling up against his back, which didn't seem to make him much more comfortable.

The thunder deities exchanged looks, looked back at Midori and Yamino, then looked at each other again…and then they burst into hysterical laughter. They practically fell to the floor for laughing so hard.

"What's so funny?" Midori asked in total seriousness, completely confused.

"Um…you, I think," Yamino told her.

Midori pouted. "That's mean! Midori doesn't like it! How rude!" And she stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at them, which just made them laugh harder.

"Hey!" Midori continued. "That's not very-" She was cut off, suddenly, by a huge crash from the main entrance. Startled, the four raced for the source of the noise, or rather, three of them raced and one of them hung onto another's coat and was dragged by him, but same difference.

They skidded to a halt just shy of the entrance lobby due to a huge cloud of opaque gray smoke spewing from it: Frey had arrived! They quickly backed up a little. "Quick, how can we get to Frey through that smoke?" Narugami asked Yamino. "We can't go through it, it knocked us out last time we tried this kind of thing…"

"How about this?" Midori asked. She let go of Yamino's coat, walked in from of them all, cleared her throat…and then screamed at the top of her high-pitched voice "YOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO! MISTER MYSTERIOUS THIEF FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!?"

For a second, the others stared at Midori like she had grown a second green-dyed head. Then they remembered this was Frey.

Sure enough, from the fog of sleeping gas a silhouette approached, revealing itself soon to be the lavish Vanir god. "He has been called, and so, he arrives!" he announced in a typical monologue. "The god himself, with his dashing good looks and charming wit, always answers his people's cries! Frey, the great and mysterious thief, has come forth!" And he struck a pose.

Everyone stared at him for a minute. Then Midori clapped a couple times, impressed. "Wow, you're really cool!" she exclaimed. The other three sweatdropped.

"Why thank you!" Frey said happily, quite pleased to run into an apparent fan. "And what are you doing here, young lady?"

"I'm with them," Midori said in utter childlike honesty, pointing behind her to the others. "We's gonna stop you or somefing."

"Oh, really?" Frey asked, looking amused by this. "You guys?" He raised an eyebrow at Nariko, but turned away back to Midori quite quickly when he saw she meant business. "Well, if he's here," Frey commented, pointing at Yamino, "than Loki has to be here too. And I have to challenge him, so I can't let you stop me."

"Because mysterious thieves face off detectives, right?" Midori inquired.

Frey grinned. "Finally, someone gets it!" he shouted. The other three facepalmed. "So, I can't let you get in the way, of course."

"Nuh-uh!" Midori told him, shaking her head. "Midori can't let you go! My sister is wif Loki! Midori doesn't want to let you bug them, nope nope nope!"

"Oh, really?" Frey said again, still amused by Midori's childish attitude. "And how do you plan to stop me?"

Midori thought for a second…then randomly pulled a manhole cover out of thin air (again) and beaned Frey with it. Hard. Hard enough that he yelled and fell to the floor, rubbing his head. "Like that!?" Midori said questioningly, as though she really didn't know if it could stop a person.

Frey started at Midori, and then glanced at the others, who were watching this with stunned horror and fascination. Then he looked up at Midori again, scowling. "You're really gonna hurt a person doing that!" he told her. Midori giggled.

Still frowning, Frey reached into his jacket…and withdrew a small plastic ball. He tossed it up into the air right in front of Midori's face, where it promptly blew up into a small cloud of smoke that enveloped Midori's head for a second. When it cleared, Midori stared into space momentarily before her eyes glazed over and she fell down onto her back, her eyes swirling and the manhole cover sent rolling away. "Hey!" the other three shouted.

"Relax," Frey told them, standing up again. "It's just knock-out gas. She'll be fine by tomorrow morning. Who is she, anyway?"

"She's Kori's foster sister."

"Kori?" It took Frey a second to recall the face of the goddess who he'd run into using that name before and then to recall her true identity. "Oh, she and Siguna are 'related' now? I thought Heimdall attacking her was bad, but-"

"Heimdall!?" Narugami interrupted. Having not been told about that incident, he was rather surprised by it. "But why would he go so far as to attack her!?"

"Grandfather Odin's orders?" Nariko suggested, looking a bit contemplative and worried. "Back home, he hasn't let anyone see him for ages in person other than Frigga and his most trusted servants…"

Frey nodded. "Yeah, it was Odin's orders," he confirmed. "I didn't really like it myself. At least in the end she got out of it with her life."

"Alright, Frey," Yamino began, but whatever he was going to say was soon drowned out by some loud clanging from above. Alarmed, he and the thunder deities instinctively looked up…and saw a large number of metal bars coming down from the ceiling. Yamino had just enough time to dodge and Narugami, just enough to grab Nariko by the arm and yank her out of harm's way before the bars firmly planted themselves into the floor, forming a cage and trapping the three inside.

Frey laughed at their stunned expressions. "I can't believe how foolish you all are!" he taunted them. "You really didn't realize I was distracting you!?"

"Distracting?"

Frey nodded triumphantly. "Yep! This heist isn't mine. There's more to that gem than you know, and Heimdall's out to get it, and maybe Loki while he's at it! I just had to stop anybody like you from getting in the way."

"But Kori's with him!" Yamino reminded the god who stood outside the cage, most worried for the little girl's safety. "He could hurt her!"

Frey had the good grace to look a little concerned too, but before long he just smiled. "It doesn't matter, I guess. Once Heimdall get's that stone, it's not like any of you are going to be safe anymore."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

In the jewel's display room, Loki and Kori's continued "discussion" about Loki's relationship with Mayura was cut suddenly short by the striking of something against the skylight above them. Another hit and it shattered, sending shards of glass raining everywhere and knocking the lights out. Fortunately, at the first hit against the glass, Loki had had the presence of mind to grab Kori by the arm and drag her behind another display case, and the two were sheltered by it, and the light of an almost full moon lit the room just fine.

Soon, Loki heard the sound of footsteps crunching across the glass towards the emerald. Without a moment of hesitation, he summoned Laevateinn and jumped from behind the display to face the thief, who was, as he suspected, someone other than Frey.

Heimdall glanced at the god of mischief with little more than contempt. "Loki. What a total lack of surprise. You're getting predictable, you know."

"Says the guy who's working with Mr. Mysterious Thief out there," Loki countered, glaring.

Heimdall chuckled. "I'll concede to that, I suppose. Now do yourself a favor and stay out of my way while I help myself to this jewel here…"

"No chance!" Loki ran over and stood between Heimdall and the gem. "What do you want it for?"

Heimdall didn't answer. Kori, peeking out from behind the display herself, had caught sight of the emerald in the moonlight and gasped loudly. "Loki, the jewel! It's a rune stone!"

"WHAT!?" Loki whipped around and looked at the gem himself. Sure enough, the stone held a brilliant aura in the moonlight, full of power. Loki saw a symbol playfully showing itself in the jewel's surrounding glow and disappearing as soon as it was looked at directly, tugging at the edges of his vision. The symbol was vaguely Z shaped, but long and tall-it was Eihwaz, which stood for a favorable turn of events! Unlike most rune stones, which were merely rocks with the rune carved into them to act as a talisman or charm, this ornate one was positively entrenched with the power of the symbol and probably had it carved carefully onto each of its many sides, making it the ultimate catalyst for the runic magic that the ancients had often used! Loki had not seen its potential until the revealing light of the moon had summoned some of it. Who could have possibly made such a thing? He doubted it was anything less than powerful sorcerer.

Heimdall, fortunately for Loki, had been distracted by Kori's presence. "Now _there's _a surprise," he commented honestly. "What in all nine worlds are you doing here, Siguna?"

"The name's Kori, you moron!" she spat. Just looking at him made her blood boil and her neck ache. "You get the Hel out of here right now!"

Heimdall looked at her for a second to see if she was serious, and then laughed at her. "Are you serious? How do you propose to stop me? You don't have any offensive powers."

"That's what you think," Kori announced, and closed her eyes and clenched her fists. The air about her moved, as though wind blew up around her, and there seemed to be a glow.

Before Loki's eyes, one of the other display cases, one filled with necklaces, suddenly flung open, surrounded by same glow as Kori. As amazed as Heimdall with this new development, although Heimdall was staring at Kori and didn't notice, Loki watched the necklaces all raise slowly out of their box…and the fly at Heimdall!

"WHAT!?" the watchman yelled as the necklaces entwined not about his throat but his wrists. Within seconds, his hands were effectively bound behind his back by jewels, gold, and silver.

"Telekinesis!" Loki laughed. "Awesome! How come you never told me about this?" He turned to Kori who smiled weakly before falling to her knees. Loki's smiled faded in an instant and he ran over to his former wife as Heimdall continued to struggle with his chains. "I get it," Loki commented as he kneeled down to look Kori in the eye, careful of the glass shards. "It tires you out. Still, that was excellent." Kori smiled at him again, obviously very happy to receive his praise.

"You're both fools," Heimdall informed them, regaining their attention. "Do you think this'll stop me?"

"Heimdall, will you please give it up?" Loki said with a sigh, standing again with a rather frustrated expression on his face.

"No, I will not!" Heimdall howled, the same desperation in his voice as last time. "This is my last chance…I refuse to be trapped on Bifrost because of you, do you hear me!?"

"Bifrost?" Loki repeated, suddenly understanding why Heimdall was so obsessed with destroying him. It was more than hatred of Loki and loyalty to Odin: this was his only chance at being free!

But between Heimdall's freedom and his own life, Loki had to admit he'd prefer the latter to the former. Frowning, he held up his staff, prepared to do what he had last time he'd faced Heimdall and end it quickly. "Sorry, Heimdall," he said as he approached and raised his staff above his head.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be," Heimdall informed Loki with a sadistic grin. Behind him, his hand crackled with power and energy, and, before Loki could react, Heimdall blew through the bonds and flung his glowing hands forward, sending Loki careening back. Fortunately for our favorite god of mischief, this was the first time Heimdall had used that power in a while, and he wasn't seriously injured. He even managed to keep his feet.

Heimdall was not deterred. "Fight all you want Loki, I'm going to win in the end," he told him, still leering.

Loki rolled his eyes, determined not to take Heimdall seriously and thus royally piss him off. "Honestly, Heimdall, you're annoying."

"Wait, what!?" Heimdall bellowed, enraged.

Loki nodded firmly. "Yes. Highly annoying. Like the word 'desu' only not."

"Wait, what?" Heimdall repeated, this time just plain confused.

"What, you never realized how annoying the word 'desu' is?" Loki asked in what appeared to be honest surprise. Heimdall just looked at him as if wondering when exactly Loki had lost his mind.

"Here, I'll give you a demonstration," Loki said happily, really beginning to weird Heimdall out. "Ahem…desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu-"

"SHUT THE # UP!" Heimdall finally shouted, fed up with Loki's bizarre antics. "What is wrong with you!?"

Ha ha!" Loki said triumphantly. "So you agree about the word desu?"

"What is wrong with, you, really?"

"Nothing. I just find the word desu very annoying."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"What does what have to do with what?"

"You know what I'm talking about, dammit!"

"No I don't. Enlighten me."

You know what Loki was really doing? A diversionary tactic. For as he began to drive Heimdall totally up the wall, Kori had snuck away. Again hiding behind a display case, she glanced over at Loki to make sure he had Heimdall's attention, then reached forward and pointed at the rune stone. Although she didn't necessarily have to, it did help her focus her power. Slowly, the stone rose shakily up into the air.

It was only about twenty meters away…fifteen…ten…five meters away from her outstretched hand…

"YOU LITTLE WITCH!"

"KORI, LOOK OUT!"

The cries rang out almost in unison as Heimdall took it upon himself to glance behind him and caught sight of the flying gemstone, and Loki's diversion fell to pieces for fear of Kori's safety. Startled, Kori jumped, and the jewel fell to the glass-covered floor, bouncing once and rolling away.

Kori just barely managed to dodge as Heimdall hurled another surge of power at her, much more powerful than the first, utterly destroying the display case. Kori avoided that, but didn't manage to avoid cutting her hands on the glass. Instinctively, she jumped to her feet with a yelp of pain…

…thus becoming an open target for Heimdall. Smirking evilly, he raised his hand, which was enveloped in power.

Heimdall's words from the last encounter rang out loud and clear in Loki's head: _You showed up much too late to save her._ Not this time! Without a single thought of his own safety, he flung forward Laevateinn, catching Heimdall's hand in the curve of the crescent and redirecting it at an already fragile ceiling. With a shout of surprise, Heimdall released the energy, which flew up and hit the roof, making the whole building shake.

"Loki!" Kori exclaimed, starting to run over to him.

"No!" Loki answered her yell, stopping her dead in her tracks. "Kori, you find Yamino and anyone else who can help! I can handle this!" For a second Kori hesitated, and then she raced for the exit.

"You won't get away!" Heimdall screeched, but when his hand showed the signs of another shot of power, Loki again redirected it, this time hitting the floor and making the whole place shake over. Throughout the museum, the crash of falling displays and objects was heard. Kori, meanwhile, managed to get to the door unscathed and bolted down the hallway.

"Give it up, Heimdall," Loki told him, scowling. "I don't care how much you want to stay off of Bifrost, I won't let you do so by hurting others, especially people I care about."

"You? You're going to end the world one day, Loki," Heimdall reminded him as he flung himself free of the staff and stood a few meters from his opponent. "It's preordained. You should stop caring now before it hurts you. Or better yet, just let me destroy you and put you out of _their_ misery."

"Not a chance," Loki snarled, getting seriously pissed off. "I have no intention of ending this or any world."

"Suit yourself," Heimdall said with a shrug. "You can live in your little fantasy world as long as you like. It won't amount to anything in the end."

Loki was literally shaking, he was so angry.

"In the meantime, I came here to get that rune stone," Heimdall declared, his eye scanning the room until it stopped, his gaze resting on the bright green gem resting on the floor. "So do me a favor and just let me pick it up before you seriously hurt yourself."

"Over my dead body!" Loki told Heimdall, racing forward and shoving the head of his staff in his face.

Heimdall was slightly startled, but then gave a smug smirk. "That can be arranged," he told Loki, and within a moment, his hands crackled with power.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Narugami, stop it before you hurt one of us!" Yamino yelled for the umpteenth time. Still stuck in the cage, Narugami had withdrawn his Mjollnir and was wildly swinging it into the bars, trying to break free. Lightning was going everywhere, and the luck of the gods alone kept it from seriously hurting Yamino, Nariko, or Frey, who sat nearby, watching this.

The museum randomly shook again, and Narugami paused in his flailing to glance at the ceiling along with the others. This had to be the doing of Loki and Heimdall. Was Loki alright? They could only hope.

"God dammit, why won't you break!?" Narugami yelled, striking the bars with a vengeance and not noticing that even Nariko was starting to look a little nervous about this.

"Uh, da-er, Narugami?" she began, trying to calm him down. Before she could finish, she caught sight of a small figure racing toward them. "Eh? Who's that?" she asked.

"Kori!" shouted Yamino as he recognized the girl.

"Siguna!" said Frey at the same time.

"That's Siguna!?" Nariko asked skeptically as the dark haired little girl ran up to them. "Well, I suppose I can see it…"

Kori had to take a second to catch her breath, but cut that short when the museum shook a fourth time and the sound of falling displays was heard again. She glanced up at Nariko and nodded, unsurprised since Loki had warned her about the girl's presence on Earth. Then she turned to Frey. "Let them go, now!" Kori said, practically begging. "Heimdall's really dangerous, Loki's in serious danger and-by the gods, did Midori get hurt!?" she broke off into an exclamation as she caught sight of her foster sister lying unconscious on the floor near her manhole cover.

"I just used knock-out gas on her," Frey said, waving it off.

"Master Loki's in danger?" Yamino asked, again bringing everyone's attention to the really important situation.

Kori nodded hurriedly. "Yes, I've never seen Heimdall so serious…and it's been ages since I've seen Loki this angry." Her eyes went to the floor. "He hasn't been this angry since Balder…"

THAT got everyone's attention more than anything. When Loki got mad enough at Balder, chaos had erupted and more than one had ended up dead.

"Frey, let us go," Narugami told him in a firm, don't-give-me-reason-to-fry-you-with-lightning-and-turn-you-into-an-oddly-shaped-piece-of-charcoal tone. Narkio was glaring daggers, and Yamino and Kori both looked totally desperate to go see Loki.

Still, Frey might have refused had it not been for his own worry as the museum rumbled another time, harder than before. Swiftly, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a remote control, pushed a button with an up arrow on it, and the bars immediately rose and freed Yamino, Narugami, and Nariko. They all ran off towards the jewel room as fast as their legs could carry them, save for Kori, who was still tired and as such was being rather dragged along by Nariko, who had taken it upon herself to grab the young child's hand.

Just as they reached the corridor that led to the jewel room a few minutes later, the museum shook a final time harder than ever, send a huge cloud of smoke spewing from the room into the gods heading for it, stopping them still.

Through the smoke, Frey alone heard the sound of wings, since he was the only one listening for it. He looked up as well as he could and caught sight of the silhouette of a hawk careening through the smog, and he followed it, unnoticed by the others.

The smoke soon cleared, and they rushed into the room. It was a total wreck, utterly decimated and filled with debris. And, sitting battered, bruised, and semi-conscious in the middle of it with his back against the half-ruined pedestal the emerald had sat upon was…

"Master Loki!" Yamino shouted, running over to him, closely followed by the others. Upon hearing his voice, Loki twitched and raised his head, looking at them with glazed eyes.

As Yamino kneeled down to get a better look at Loki and Kori wrapped her arms around him tightly, paractically in tears, Narugami and Nariko surveyed the room.

"D-Narugami?" Nariko said questioningly.

"Yes?" he answered hesitantly, looking at the shattered remains of a set of precious earrings.

"Heimdall…really does want to kill Loki, huh?"

Narugami glanced over at his child, who looked less than comfortable. Poor thing, she had her own hatred, and she probably didn't feel comfortable seeing what hatred could do.

"I don't…"

Everyone turned their attention to Loki, who had finally spoken, whose eyes were finally starting to clear, revealing total disbelief and a little shame.

"I don't believe it…I lost."

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

"Wait up!" Frey shouted as he chased the hawk out of the museum and onto the deserted streets. The bird didn't slow, but when Frey followed it around a corner, he was able to stop, put an arm against the side of the building to hold himself up, and catch his breath. For there, reclining against the wall, staring at the moon as though without a care in the world, stood Heimdall.

After a while, the watchman turned to look at Frey, at which point the Vanir god noticed that Heimdall sported a confident grin. "You need to get in shape, Frey," Heimdall said jokingly. Standing up fully and walking over.

"What was that!?" Frey exclaimed, stunned and insulted. "Is that all you have to say!? After all that! You practically destroyed that place! It was shaking like crazy! I really thought you might be in trouble and…and…what are you doing?"

What Heimdall was doing was reaching around in his pocket for something. Eventually he found it and held it out to Frey. "Take a good look at this."

Cautious but curious, Frey took what was given, which was a small round mirror just big enough to cover his palm. Wondering why Heimdall wanted him to see it, he gazed deeply at his own reflection…

The mirror dropped from his hand as he lurched back suddenly. His hands went up and clutched his head as Frey shook violently, pitching himself first forward, then back, then to the side, then back again. Finally, he stood still, enshrouded with a dark aura of possession.

Slowly, Frey stood up straight, opening his eye to reveal the blue had been taken over by a red-purple glow. "Heimdall, it's the middle of the night, so this had better be good," he told him, but it was not his own voice that truly spoke. It was Odin's.

"Oh, it's good," Heimdall assured him, holding up his hand. Carefully held in his gloved fingers was…

"The rune stone," Odin/Frey breathed, holding out his/their hand to take it for a better look. Heimdall handed it over. After rolling it about in his/their fingers, Odin/Frey held it up to catch the moonlight, again causing it to form its bizarre aura. "Excellent," he/they whispered. "Most excellent…" His/their gaze turned to Heimdall again. "And Loki?"

"Beaten and battered, but still alive unfortunately," Heimdall admitted. He smirked. "I reminded him about how he'll destroy the world someday and he lost any real focus. I had him beaten before the fight even began."

"Very nice…" Odin/Frey commented, looking at the jewel again. Then he/they smiled. "Heimdall, you did spectacularly. I would have thought it'd take more time for you to get this…you exceeded my expectations."

If Heimdall hadn't been basking in the glow of his father's praise, he might have noticed just how insultingly surprised Odin was with this triumph. But he was, so he didn't.

"I think I'll let you decide exactly what to do with this," Odin/Frey said, handing the stone back to Heimdall. "You can probably be trusted to handle it."

"I won't let you down," Heimdall said firmly, grasping the gem tightly. "Allfather. I must admit…I have a request."

"Oh?"

"Yes…you see, the only one I have to help me in my missions is Frey, and he's not even on our side, he's openly neutral. Plus, he's just generally a pain and not trustworthy in this situation."

"I see…you want another ally," Odin/Frey said contemplatively. "Do you have anyone in particular in mind?"

"Anyone you send would be a big help, but there is one specific person I'm thinking of. You are aware that Thor's daughter Thrud is here?"

"Yes," Odin/Frey growled. "And she believes I sent her when I had nothing to do with it. There's trickery afoot…"

"No doubt," Heimdall agreed. "Anyway, since she seems to be with her father on Loki's side…I figured we should bring in the only person who might confuse Thrud's loyalty."

"Aha!" Odin/Frey exclaimed, getting what Heimdall meant. "You want our god of justice, eh? Good idea, very good idea. I'll see to it that he's down here within a few days."

"Thank you, Allfather," Heimdall said, bowing. He remained that way even as Odin gave up possession for Frey, who lost consciousness immediately and fell to the ground.

Heimdall looked up to the brightly shining moon and grinned maliciously. "Say your prayers, Loki! You're as good as dead!"

((Ta-da! Done! Haha, it was humor and epic fight scenes and serious developments! I think this chapter turned out really well, I wish I could write like this more often.

Things in this chapter were inspired by several others. First of all, the 'desu' scenes and Midori's "Imma eat ur face" line both came from Slayers-Nerd, an artist on DeviantArt who's created some very good original designs for how the Norse gods look that, should you have the time, you should check out (you can get a good one by searching 'Freyr mola mola,' trust me!). The idea of Frigga helping Loki also came from a DeviantArtist, one CheshireCatGrin. Finally, the whole jewel heist thing came from a one-shot Loki fic called Meticulous by Colormyworld. That fic, for the record, is very light hearted and funny, as this chapter was originally going to be before I was inspired to go in other directions. As such, that last one may be revisited. I also might use that 'desu' thing again.

Also, due to your comments (and by comments, I mean comment) about the companion fic I've been planning, the Lives of the Gods, I have decided to try and create it. It's not going to be an actual story so much as a collection of one-shots I want to write. So now I'm faced with a dilemma. Should the first one-shot thing be a little thing I thought about concerning Vali, a flashback into the world of the gods? Or should it be one concerning another OC I'm really getting into next chapter, one who plays a vastly significant role in Loki's past? Tell me in your reviews if you don't mind!

So, review like always, and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!))


	14. Nariko's Friend

Chapter fourteen

((Wow…I wrote this freaking thing, and even I'm having trouble comprehending that Heimdall actually won a victory so decisively. And that I actually put Odin and Frigga in this story so early. I guess I was just impatient. Sorry. Also, I apologize that this chapter will be short…

So, yeah, if you'll recall, in the chapter in which Nariko was introduced, she wasn't alone. I also brought up her friend, whose name was mentioned to be Rokia Kekkai. Have you been wondering, hmm, just who is this girl who Nariko made friends with? Why was she brought up at all, the only other character to receive a name? Could it be that she's important? If you haven't been wondering, you should have, seeing as that is going to come to light in this chapter!

Also, I've noticed there is a severe lack of Mayura in this fic, mostly due to the fact that I have trouble writing her character. But she gets some face time here. Even a bit of MayuLoki fluff, since at this point it's still the planned pairing.

Review shout outs…

Gemini Artemis: Glad you enjoy! Action is fun to write. Yes, more Yamino is always a good thing. Midori isn't weird, Midori is Midori! And yes, I plan for Nariko's character to receive quite a lot of development, as will Narugami's. And everyone else's', for that matter.

Seven Midnights: Haha, glad you like the "desu" moments, but remember, they were inspired by Deviant Artist Slayers-Nerd, it wasn't my own idea. Oh, and I'm glad you like Vali so much even though I haven't even introduced him yet! He will be the main character in the first installment of the Lives of the Gods.

In the immortal words of, er, me, time to start this story!))

The next morning Nariko went to school as usual, arriving a bit early so she'd have time to think. Heimdall had achieved a relic of great power to use to his ends, and had broken Loki's spirit while he was at it. All Loki had been able to say that night when she last saw him was "I lost," and "I don't believe it," although that last one had struck her as a reaction to something other than the loss. But what?

"You've been moody lately." Nariko jumped: she hadn't heard her friend Rokia slip into the seat next to her and had been lost in thought. She looked over at her friend, who was characteristically wearing a headscarf over her red-brown hair and looking contemplative.

"I mean," Rokia continued, adjusting her glasses as was her habit to do when she was a bit annoyed and trying to hide it, "A few days ago, you were normal. Then you just randomly walked in the next day like the world was the greatest thing that ever happened to you and you had not plans to ever stop smiling. That lasted for a couple of days. Now this morning, you've been walking around in a daze like you're trying to figure something out." Rokia glanced at Nariko. "Care to share why?"

Nariko didn't answer. Scowling, Rokia continued. "That's another thing. Ever since you first started coming to this school, I've been, for lack of better term, you're best friend. You've barely talked to me at all since the mood thing started, and sometimes you even seem to be looking at me bug-eyed when you think I don't notice. Please tell me this phase is almost over!"

Nariko looked away. She heard her friend sigh dramatically and turn away, and she couldn't blame her: with the weirdness of finding her father and now Heimdall stealing a powerful rune stone, she hadn't been the most attentive of Rokia, lately.

Well, actually, she had considered being attentive since the Heimdall thing. She'd been planning on trying to think up a decent lie about the whole situation and ask Rokia for advice. But before she could, she was waylaid. She couldn't really talk to her friend since the night she'd been reunited with her father due to the fact that she'd noticed something odd, something too odd for her comfort.

She noticed that Rokia, other than having bright blue eyes instead of green and wearing glasses, looked just like and older, female version of Loki. The resemblance, which Nariko couldn't believe she hadn't noticed earlier, was uncanny.

There were some other unsettlingly familiar things about Rokia Nariko found rather discomforting now that she noticed them. She had the same habit of staring out windows when she was depressed or thinking, the same hand motions when she talked, the same "Elementary, my dear Watson" tone of voice when she was making a point, the same piercing glare when she was annoyed (for all that Loki's was the deepest of greens and Rokia's was the bluest of blues, they're eyes held the same ferocity and ability to look right through you).

But why? Why did Rokia Kekkai have these strange similarities to the god of mischief?

"You're doing the bug-eyed thing again," Rokia told Nariko, who jumped again and realized that she was indeed staring at her highly annoyed classmate and companion. Blushing a little, she turned to the front of the room and made a point of glaring at the blackboard instead of eyeing Rokia.

"Nariko, if you want to ask me something, go ahead and ask," Rokia informed her, getting quite tired of this whole thing.

Nariko spared her friend a sidelong glance. "If I ask and I'm wrong, you'll think I'm crazy." It was true: if she asked Rokia if she knew about Loki and she didn't, she'd bug Nariko like crazy to figure out why Nariko thought she would, and things would probably spiral out of control.

"That's okay; I already think hyu are crazy!" Rokia said, smiling and showing the barest tinges of a strange accent when she mispronounced "you." Nariko almost laughed. And Rokia accused _her_ of being moody! That was another shared trait Rokia had with Loki: the bizarre and sudden changes of mood from angry to playful to distressed to whatever other emotions came across their minds.

Rokia and Loki also shared their love of being a bit mean for the sake of amusement. Or a lot mean, when that impulse came upon them.

"Seriously, though, hurry up and tell me what's on your mind or I'll beat it out of you," Rokia said, and Nariko was reminded of a distinct difference between Loki and this girl. Loki was not typically cruel, for all of his crimes. Rokia, on the other hand, seemed to get a real kick out of other people's misery, had no problem with violence, and could even be mildly sadistic at times.

As such, the (probably serious) threat of physical injury finally started to worm it out of Nariko. "Well…I don't suppose you know anyone named-"

The bell rang and both girls practically fell out of their chairs. _Saved by the bell_, Nariko thought with relief. During lunch, there would be too many people around for Rokia to bug her. She was safe until after school, when she could try to lose her.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Loki had managed to keep Mayura out of the last case only by great effort, and by eventually going to her father, who had naturally forbid Mayura from going anywhere with _Loki_, and on a school night, too! Still, she managed to weasel her way into the investigation of the aftermath and had shown up earlier than he'd expected her to. He suspected she'd cut her last class despite her assurance that it was a study hall and she was allowed to leave early.

He might have made a bigger deal about that, but he was still reeling a little about Heimdall's accusations/assurances that Loki would one day lead the way to Ragnarok. As he watched some poor museum employees sweep at the insanely large amount of shattered glass, he wondered about what would happen if, heaven forbid, Heimdall was right…

No, it was too terrible; he couldn't imagine laying waste to those he cared about. But if he couldn't even beat Heimdall to get a rune stone, how could he defeat whatever forces would push him to Ragnarok?

"Hey, Loki, look sharp, would ya!?" Mayura came up behind him, startling him from his rather depressing reverie. He glanced up at her, as lively and naïve as always. For all of the annoyance she caused Loki, he had to admit being around someone as innocent and energetic as her made it near impossible to contemplate the world ending.

Still, he wasn't exactly in a cheery mood. Rather than answer her, he simply looked back out at the destroyed jewel room. His frown deepened when he caught sight of the display case Heimdall had destroyed while attacking Kori…

"Do you feel bad because that jewel got stolen?" Mayura asked, kneeling down to his eye level and, as he saw when he turned to face her, giving him a sympathetic look. Since it was technically the truth, he nodded.

Mayura gave him an encouraging smile. "Well, don't worry about it! I mean, entire police forces put up less of a fight than you did! And besides, there are more cases out there! Don't let one mistake get you down, or you might miss the next opportunity!"

Loki blinked in mild surprise. "That was a slight bit profound," he admitted. "Thank you, Mayura."

Now Mayura blinked. Then she giggled a little nervously, standing. "It doesn't need thanks," she told him, sounding rather embarrassed. "Now, come on! Let's do some investigating!"

Loki didn't comment on the lack of anything to really investigate, instead just shaking his head and musing over Mayura's strange appeal and the question of his relationship with himself and Mayura, which he still couldn't really answer.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Unfortunately for Nariko, she had not, in the end, been able to escape her friend Rokia. As such, all the way through the halls outside Rokia was practically clinging to her, begging for information on this person she should know whose name Nariko had yet to give to her. That was another of the several differences between these two: Rokia had far less dignity when she really wanted something.

"Look, it's hard to explain!" Nariko said for what felt like the billionth time as they exited the building, Rokia mere inches away. This made Nariko uncomfortable: a defining trait of Rokia (and another difference with Loki) was that Rokia had no problem with any sort of interpersonal physical contact. She could be very clingy and huggy and even make things a little bit uncomfortable. At the very least, Loki could keep his distance…

"Oh, come on, Nariko; just give me a hint about this guy!" Rokia begged, grabbing Nariko's arm and hugging it. Nariko pulled it away, and Rokia grabbed it again. "No! I'm holding your arm hostage! Tell me this guy's name!"

"Quit being stupid!" Nariko shouted as she pulled her arm away again, not knowing she was setting herself up for the dropping of a bomb.

"Oh, puh-leez!" Rokia told her, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. "You're hardly one to talk about intelligence, considering who your family is!"

Wait for it…

"What?" Nariko asked, startled.

"Well, you're daddy Thor isn't supposed to be the brightest guy around, ya?"

Ka-boom.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?" Nariko shrieked. She had never mentioned her identity to Rokia! Rokia was normal, or at least, she thought she was, but…but…but… "AAAAH! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

Rokia's scowl turned into a playful smile. "Ah-ha, didn't think I could tell, ya?" she asked, teasing. "Thought I was a normie, ya? Thought I wouldn't sense you're power and realize you were an Asgardian who had power over thunder, ya?"

"Ah…ah…ah…ah…how..?"

"Oh, I'm not human," Rokia said with a shrug. "I'm a Jotun."

"A Jotun," Nariko repeated, trying to take this in. "You're an ice giant. From Jotunheim. But…but how did you…?"

"Get to Midgard?" Rokia finished. Nariko nodded. "Well, hyu can thank your dear granddaddy Odin for dat one, ya," Rokia told her, scowling. Nariko could tell she was getting annoyed: more of her strange accent was showing. Of course, now Nariko knew it was a remainder of Rokia's apparent old tongue, the Jotun language.

"Hyu see, I, ah, got on Odin's nerves sometimes. Quite often, actually. He had someting I vanted, you see, and I was always, always trying to get it, always. Eventually, he got sick of me. Put me in a human form and banished me here, he did. So, I didn't know what to do, so eventually I gave ap and tried to be human. And then who should show up but you?

"I met your father once, hyu know, kiddo. I hate the Asgardians, they are all traitors, but…your father Thor struck me as rather good natured. So then when you come into school, I think, hey, she must be related to him. If he wasn't so bad, she can't be so bad, ya? And I got to know you…and now, here we are." And Rokia finished her monologue with a sweeping motion at the world around her, at 'here.'

"Right," Nariko said eventually. "Here we are. Oh, boy, that...that was…I don't know _what_ that was, but I can't think again yet."

"Take your time," Rokia advised, grinning, apparently amused by Nariko's total stupefaction. "We've got plenty of time!"

"So…if you're a Jotun…" Nariko said slowly, speaking her thoughts aloud to make sure she had this straight. "…then you're from Jotunheim. And since he used to be a Jotun…he's from Jotunheim too. And if you're both from Jotunheim…maybe you do know each other…"

"Tell me who dis mysterious "him" is, ya?" Rokia inquired, poking her index finger underneath Nariko's chin to lift up the girl's head so they were looking at each other. "Who might I know?" Like Nariko, she was setting herself up for a bomb to fall.

Nariko thought for a second before answering "Loki."

Ka-boom. Again.

"LOKI!?" Rokia shrieked, releasing Nariko's chin to grab her by the shoulders. "Are you serious!? Loki!?"

"So you do know him!" Nariko exclaimed.

"Know heem!? Hai am related to heem! Oh by de godz, dis is beyond brilliant! Dis is vat I been vaiting far!" And she stopped just speaking heavily accented Japanese and began speaking rapid, excited Jotun, which is sort of like a mixture of German, Scandinavian, Russian, and a little bit of Latin, with some various hisses and growls added in there. Very interesting to listen to, but kind of scary sounding too.

Nariko continued to digest this. A relative of Loki. She'd made friends with a relative of Loki without even knowing it. This friendly, slightly charming, tall girl who had some sadistic habits and talked funny when she was excited was related to Loki. And was desperate to see him again, it would seem. Oh, boy, Nariko was really in for it…

"Take meh too heem!" Rokia suddenly ordered, pointing at her shocked friend.

"Say what now?" Nariko asked.

"Take meh too vere Loki eez!" Rokia explained, looking more than ready to beg if that's what it took to get Nariko to lead her to him.

"Um…I don't know for sure he's home…but I guess I can take you to his house…" Nariko said slowly.

And thus, she set up the opportunity for a Hel of a lot more bombs to come crashing down.

((Ooo, well isn't this interesting! Another member of Loki's family, eh? Where will this lead? Well, I know because I'm the author, but you'll just have to wait. evil laughter Of course, I'm the one who has to write it well enough to keep you interested…aw, damn.

If you had any trouble reading Rokia's accented speech, just tell me in your review and I'll translate. She's supposed to speak with a Russian or German sounding accent, if that helps.

Anyway, you'll find out the EXACT identity of Rokia and her relation with Loki (and his other family members) next time, which is going to be another long chapter if I can pull it off, what with the internet breaking on my computer all the time and making it hard to post and school starting up in a few weeks and my brother going off to college soon (wah, I'm gonna miss him!) and other stupid things in my pointless "real life" causing me trouble. Look forward to it!))


	15. Finding Family

Chapter fifteen

((Okay, so we've met Rokia Kekkai, an odd girl who just happens to not only be related to Loki, but also goes to Nariko's school and is friends with her! Whoa. So, now they're headed to Loki's house. Will this turn out interestingly? You bet it will! I wouldn't write it if it wouldn't.

In addition to posting this, I am also posting the first installment of the Lives of the Gods today, so go read and review that too, if you please!

And yes, I'm still on my "update every six days schedule" because it's technically Thursday morning (12:36 am!) so it works. The next one's coming on Wednesday!

Oh, and just so you know, the first Jotun language term that is brought up in this chappie right at the beginning is half made up, and half what I got as a German translation in Google translator.

Review shout outs, as always…or rather, review shout out, since I only got one…(emo sob)

Seven Midnights: Yes, unlike "Kori," which was a really weird coincidence, Rokia was planned. You're in Scandinavia? Cool! That must be great, lucky you. But I have no idea what a Scandinavian accent is like, hence I gave Rokia a sort of German or Russian one, mostly because I read the characters' lines out loud when I proofread and I have fun speaking in that accent. And…I already responded to the last part of your review, eheheheh…

Let's get this party started…gawd, that is such a cliché thing to say…))

Nariko wandered down the road, almost at Loki's house. Thank goodness. Rokia was her friend and all, but for the love of puppies, she was getting on Nariko's nerves, chattering to herself in the Jotun language, then bursting out to ask "You're sure it's Loki, right? I'm really going to see him? You're not tricking me?" and so on, and then reverting back to her mother tongue as soon as she was reassured.

"What does that one word mean?" Nariko asked eventually.

"Which word?" Rokia inquired, startled by the interruption.

"The one you keep saying, shu-den-er…"

"Shukenherz," Rokia corrected. "Directly translated, it means 'sugar heart'…it's the equivalent of 'sweetheart.' It's just a pet name I've given Loki. Annoys him like crazy, it does."

"Ah. Um, just how are you related, anyway…?"

Rokia almost answered, but stopped and considered something, finally just tossing Nariko a sly grin. "I'll let Loki tell you. He hates admitting he's related to me, so it'll be fonny."

Nariko blinked. "If you like Loki so much, why do you want to mess with him?"

Rokia scowled at that. "Because the leetle eediot didn't listen to me. I told him going to Asgard vould get him in endless trouble, but did he listen to meh? No! He vent running off to Asgard to become an Aesir without eben saying good-bye! Not to me, not to anyone! And what's more, he didn't give us any way to know he vas alright! We just had to wait until information weaseled its way out on its own, like humans did for dere myths! Oh, I love him very much, he iz family, but I'm not goin' to let him get away vit making me worry so much!"

Nariko considered this. She'd never really thought about Loki having a life before coming to Asgard and messing with everything in sight (as far as she could see, anyway). Well, she knew he'd had a previous wife, hence his demon children, but she'd never considered that he'd had parents, possibly siblings, friends, cousins, anything like that. And he had left it all behind to become a god…

"Oh, we're here!" Nariko suddenly noticed as they stood outside his mansion. Rokia looked it over, apparently impressed with how well Loki was doing on Midgard. Nariko thought for a second, and then said "I have two things I should mention."

"Ya?"

"First of all, Loki is a detective. He might be dealing with a case we he had last night…he might not be here."

"He'll come back," Rokia said with a shrug. "What's the second thing?"

"Well, he's banished too, and well, when Odin kicked him out…"

"He changed his form?" Rokia finished. "I assumed as much. He changed me, too. I'm quite old, actually, an adult, and although it is razer nice being young again…whatever. How did he change Loki?"

"He's a chibi."

"What?"

"He's a little kid!" Nariko evaluated, grinning. "He's like ten, eleven tops!"

"Really!?" Rokia sounded excited. "Aw I can't wait to see him! He's a kid again! Ha ha ha ha!"

Cheered up, Nariko began to head for the door...only to stop and frown. "Oh, yeah, there's a third thing…"

"What now?"

"He has family."

"Oh?"

"Yep, he's living with Angerboda, but she looks like a regular girl, and Fenrir, but he looks like a puppy, and the Midgard serpent, but _he_ looks like a _human_! He's older, to act as his guardian!"

Rokia blinked, and then giggled. "So his son is older dan him?"

Nariko thought about the idea of being older than your own parent, and then giggled right along with Rokia. "It is a little weird, huh? Anyway, we should go in now…"

Nariko finally went to the door and pounded on it. Soon, Yamino opened it. He flinched the second he saw who was calling. "Er, hello, Miss Nariko, how are-"

"Shut up and let us in," Nariko interrupted, thrusting the door open some more and pushing him out of her way as she went past him into the house.

Yamino threw a dirty look in the small girl's direction (since she wasn't facing him and wouldn't see it and get mad anyway), then looked at the other guest. It took him a second to take in her bizarre resemblance to Master Loki, from her piercing eyes to her impish smile. When he did finish absorbing it, he didn't comment, he just motioned for her to come in, nodding a greeting as he tried to remember where he'd seen those blue eyes before.

She smirked at him as she passed. "I like your human form, it's very nice looking, Midgardsornr." She giggled when he jumped at being referred to by his real name. "Don't remember me, ya? Well, the last time I saw you it was when your father lived in Jotunheim. Ages ago, in other words, when you vere little. The name I'm currently going by is Rokia Kekkai. And yours…?"

"Um, I'm Yamino Ryuusuke," Yamino said reflexively, bowing at the waist. "It's good to meet you…er, or see you again, I suppose."

"My, my, aren't you a polite one," Rokia commented, grinning at his expression. "Is Loki home? I'm glad to see hyu, of course, but your father's the one I was really looking forward to running into again."

"He's, ah, out. Finishing up a case…He should be home soon. In the meantime, would you like to come to the kitchen for some food?"

"I might as well, since I'm sure Nariko's there by now," Rokia said with a shrug, and she let herself be led to the other room.

Nariko, of course, was staring longingly at an array of food that was on the table. But before she ate it, she glanced warily at Yamino. "You didn't poison it or anything did you?" she asked.

"What!? No!" Yamino exclaimed, indignant. "That food's for Spica, so don't eat too much of it."

"Whatever," Nariko replied with a shrug, helping herself to the eats without another second of hesitation. Catching Rokia's confused look, she commented "Spica is the name Angerboda's using, by the way."

As if on cue, Spica wandered in then. She gave Nariko a look of surprise that became shock when she caught sight of Rokia. Then her face obtained a look of total joy, and she raced forward to hug the other giantess in disguise, who laughed and accepted the embrace. "It's good to see you too, dear! Your human form is lovely." Rokia's smile grew brighter as she remembered something, and she said hurriedly "Can you get Fenrir? I want to see if he remembers me, unlike his brodder." Spica ran off quickly to find the puppy.

Yamino watched this newcomer as she began to examine the room she was in. He felt like he knew her, but he had no specific memories. All he knew was he felt familiar enough to believe her claim to be related to Master Loki (and thus to him), and that, oddly enough, he somehow got the distinct feeling that Master Loki might not be the happiest person in the world to see her when he returned.

"Yum!" Yamino blinked and came back out of his thoughts to see Rokia giving him an impressed look as she ate some of the food he'd made. She obviously liked it. Yamino had to admit, his opinion of her raised quite a bit when he saw that she was appreciative of his cooking, unlike other, less grateful creatures he knew (the most notable one of those being scarfing down his confections at that very moment without a word of thanks…).

"It's you!" Fenrir raced into the room so fast he was just a streak of black fur and leapt right into Rokia's lap. She jumped, startled by the puppy bomb, then grinned and hugged the little puppy.

"Aw, you remember me!" she said happily. "It's good to see you, too!" Rokia glanced at Yamino with a playful grin. "Which makes you the only member of the family who doesn't know who I am, ya?"

Fenrir glared at Yamino. "You mean you don't remember her!? How could you forget your own-"

"Now, now, Fenrir," Rokia cut in, petting him on the head to calm him. "He was still pretty little when you all had to leave with dat silly father of yours. It makes sense that he can't recall anything about me, ya?"

"I am so confused," Yamino said to no one in particular, sighing.

"Deal with it," suggested Nariko, who was still there and starting to feel left out.

Fenrir blinked. "Um, what is she doing here?"

Rokia smiled. "She goes to the same school I do now. She's the one who told me Loki was here, and she brought me to the house."

Nariko took a moment to shoot a glare at Rokia. "Yeah, and I only found out today that she knew who I was all along. AND that she was a Jotun on top of all that. Why exactly did you wait so long to fill me in, anyway?"

Rokia's smile turned sheepish. "I vasn't planning on telling you at all. You've just been acting so weird lately that I got concerned. Why have you been all happy-go-lucky lately?"

"Because I found my dad again," Nariko told her friend, beaming, her good mood entirely restored just because she could say that statement.

Rokia blinked. "Thor is here too? Huh." She seemed to have a mild flashback, and commented "I met him once, when he was goin' on one of his trips through Jotunheim. He struck me as pretty nice, if not a little on the slow side." She gave Nariko a sidelong glance. "You're lucky I had a good opinion of him, girlie."

Nariko met the look with a vengeance. "Oh? And why is that?"

Rokia smiled again. "I don't have the highest opinion of the gods of Asgard. Put simply, I mostly hate dem. If you hadn't been his and you annoyed me in the slightest…" Rokia suddenly punched the table so hard she left a large hole in it. "…the results would have been…less than pritty."

Nariko just smirked and curled a hand into a fist, and it twinged with lightning. "I'd fight back, you know," she informed the Jotun.

Rokia managed to restrain a laugh. "No doubt." Then she caught sight of Yamino, who was staring at the table in shock. Confused, she looked at it as well, and, apparently just noticing the hole, she then tossed an embarrassed, apologetic smile at him. "Oops. Silly me. Sorry."

Yamino continued staring. _Why must every person who comes into this house be so…destructive!?_

And then they heard the door open and Loki's voice call out "I'm home."

Rokia grinned a wolfish grin and quickly put down Fenrir, rushing to stand beside the doorway so when Loki entered the room he wouldn't see her. She put her fingers to her lips to signal the others to be quiet and waited.

Within a minute or two, Loki approached, looking rather tired. "Jeez, Mayura's exhausting," he commented mostly to himself. "I can't remember the last time I met someone that tiring."

He was reminded of when that was when he actually entered the kitchen and was immediately glomped from behind. "Argh! What the heck!?" he exclaimed. His assailant was hugging him so tightly he couldn't turn to face them and he had no clue what was going on. "Let me go!"

When he heard a voice respond 'Not a chance!' in Jotun rather than Japanese, he stopped struggling from surprise. The grip on him loosened enough for him to turn around and look into the bright blue eyes of his captor…

At which point he shouted "NOOOOOOOOO!" and tried even harder to escape her, not that she was letting him go any time soon. "HOW CAN YOU BE HERE!? HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY BE HERE!? LET ME GO! HELP ME!"

Yamino and Nariko, the only ones who didn't know who this person really was, were more confused than ever. "Master Loki, who is this girl?" Yamino finally asked in a bit, during a point where Loki had paused in his screaming.

Loki's protests stopped again as he looked at Yamino in surprise. "She didn't tell you who she was?"

"She wanted you to," Nariko told him with a shrug. "So, tell us."

Loki hesitated. "Say it," Rokia urged, playing. Loki waited another moment. "Saaaaaay iiiiiit."

Finally, with a sigh, Loki admitted the relationship he had with this terrible giantess that had him in her clutches. "She's the giantess Nal, also called Laufey…and, well…she's…my…mother."

"Your…?"

"Mother…?"

Yamino and Nariko blinked, then screamed in unison "WHAT!?"

Loki nodded, looking rather ashamed that he had been brought into the world by such a total crazy. She just giggled and huggled him so more.

"Wait, if she's your mother…" Yamino began, taking this all in as quickly as he could, "…then…she's my…"

"Ya, I'm your grandma!" Rokia confirmed, smiling at him with warmth. "How about that?"

"Wow, now you have parents _and_ grandparents that are younger than you," Nariko commented, obviously amused by Yamino's discomfort and confusion. He made a face at her, and she just stuck her tongue out at him in response. "Have fun dealing with that. I'm going to leave and let you all have you're little family reunion or whatever." And with that, she got up and walked out, somehow expertly dodging both Yamino and Loki's death glares as she left.

"Okay, seriously, let me go, this is uncomfortable," Loki said to his mother, who seemed to consider this. Reluctantly, she released him, and he immediately jumped away and backed up several paces as if expecting her to lunge at him again.

Still kneeling, Rokia looked him over, and then sighed. "You're in a kid's body, but you're too mature now. I was hoping you'd be just like you were when you were little so I could raise you again and do it right this time…"

Loki scowled. "Well, sorry," he drawled.

Rokia shot him a look. "Hyu could be a bit kinder, seeing as this is the first time we've been in contact since you ran off to Asgard and left me behind without even a good-bye. I mean, I haven't heard from you in a few thousand years now!"

Loki flinched as the metaphorical knife of guilt stabbed him right in the gut. Annoying though she was, this _was_ the woman who'd given him life. "I suppose I should apologize," he admitted.

The corners of Rokia's mouth began to turn up. "You should, but you're not going to, are you?"

"Not yet, no," Loki told her, cocking his head mostly as though a bit surprised she needed that confirmed.

Rokia laughed. "You haven't changed at all, have you? You're still the same contrary little trouble maker as always, ya?" Her smile became warm and maternal. "But dat's what I love about you. So I forgive you for it."

Loki rolled his eyes, but he was blushing. "Whatever," he mumbled, apparently embarrassed by the affection his mother showed him. He looked around. "Um, where's Spica?"

"When she got me and told me Grandma was here, she said something about setting up a room," Fenrir mentioned helpfully.

Loki didn't get it. "A room? Why?"

Fenrir thought for a second. "Well, when we were in Jotunheim, Grandma lived with us," he said eventually. "Maybe she figures Grandma should live with us again."

There was a second of silence after Fenrir's commentary. And then…

"No!" Loki shouted.

"Yes!" Rokia squealed.

"What!?" Yamino exclaimed.

And this all happened at once. Fenrir flinched from the noise that followed as Rokia began ranting in rushed Jotunheim speak, Loki began protesting this possibly happening, and Yamino began asking for someone, anyone, to fully explain this to him because it was all happening way too fast for his liking.

And thus began yet another bizarre and chaotic chapter in the life of Loki.

((Heh. This chapter didn't turn out as well as I hoped, but still, it's alright, and mildly humorous. Yes, Seven Midnights, that is Loki's mom, just like you predicted and told me you hoped it wasn't! But why did you say "don't tell me it's his mom" in your review? What's so bad about that? She's a cool mom! Utterly insane, but cool!

As soon as I get a review, I'll post the first chappie of the Lives of the Gods, so get to it and send me your comments!))


	16. The Hand of Justice

15th chapter

((Okay, so Loki's in over his head dealing with his crazed mother showing up (you haven't seen too much of her yet, but she's one of my favorite characters to write because she's pretty wild) and apparently now she is planning to move in with him. Poor Loki, I make him suffer so, ahahaha! Yamino's rather confused by this…he kinda suffers a lot, too, what with Midori and Nariko and now this. Heh.

But! What of the conversation Odin and Heimdall had at the end of Chapter Thirteen: An Unfortunate Triumph? Heimdall's getting a new ally! But who exactly? Have you been curious? Well, your curiosity is soon to be relieved, because this is the chapter in which he's introduced! Dun dun dun!

Mayura gets a tiny bit more face time as well, because she seriously lacks it so far in this little tale I'm spinning. She'll also get some love in the next chappie, as will Narugami, and Kotaro (because I don't know why but I love his character, so he just needs to show up eventually). Also will be…another new OC! Omfg lol! That'll make it like the third new character to get major introduction and development in about that many chapters…Hee. Try and keep up with me and my rapid influx of OCs, and let's just deal with Heimdall's new ally at the moment.

So, I won't keep you waiting much longer. Review shout outs now…

Seven Midnights: Sorry about forgetting this! Ahem…Glad you are apparently psychic. Must be fun. And imagine Rokia's accent however you want…actually, the irish accent would probably suit her!

And now, the chapter.))

Heimdall turned at the sound of someone knocking on his door: it couldn't be Frey, because the Vanir _never_ remembered to knock before entering. Which meant, of course, that there was only one other logical explanation for this visitor's identity.

Smirking, Heimdall got off his window perch and called out "The door is open, Tyr. Do come in."

The god who entered was a rather tall, intimidating person somewhere in his mid-twenties in appearance. He was a bit bulky, partially from being muscled and partially because he was probably wearing some armor underneath his long black trench coat. His hair was beige and his rather thin eyes were hazel-brown. His face was scarred, and he walked with the dignity of a warrior. And of course, since this was the god who placed his right hand in Fenrir's mouth to bind him, his right arm ended in a stump rather than an appendage.

Heimdall did his best to force his mouth to stop smirking and form an honestly friendly grin, which was hard since he'd had little to really smile about without it being tainted by malice recently. "It's good to see you again," he greeted him. "Finally, I've got someone competent to help me out."

Tyr scowled at him in a manner that made it clear he rarely smiled. "Heimdall, I'm not doing this for you," he informed him.

Heimdall shrugged. "Blunt as always. Well, I figured as much. This is partially for Odin, and partially for…others." Heimdall turned and looked away, out the window, but he kept talking. "For example, you need to get Fenrir before he gets you, right? That'll be easy enough, he spends most of his time in a shrunken form that I imagine you could squish like a bug. And then there's Thrud." Heimdall could hear the small clink of armor as Tyr flinched at that.

Heimdall continued. "I mean, you always liked the girl, right? Thor had forbidden her from weapons training and you took it upon yourself to teach her in secret. And here she is, destined to be used by Loki just like her father who she's so _very_ loyal to." Heimdall glanced back at Tyr again. "Who better to talk her into seeing sense than you, the only person she might be just as fond of?"

Tyr's scowl deepened and he shook his head, looking very annoyed. "You've been around Frey too long: you're monologuing."

Heimdall chuckled at the truth of that statement. "You're right, I apologize. Perhaps a gift would make it better?"

Tyr got a confused look on his face as Heimdall went to a table on which a box sat. Heimdall opened it, revealing the brilliant rune stone. "I don't want to use it too much, because it charges power as the moon waxes and the moon begins waning tonight, but I figured…a welcoming present would help ease the tension."

Heimdall removed the gem and held it before him. He motioned for Tyr to come closer, and, curious as to this gift, the god of war and justice obeyed the summons. "Hold out your right…arm," Heimdall instructed, barely catching himself before he said 'hand.' Again, Tyr did as Heimdall asked.

The rune stone flashed its brilliant aura for a second, and then sent power surging up Tyr's arm. He felt his body suddenly fill with an influx of magic that soon focused entirely on the end of his right arm. He was unable to resist an awed expression as a glow of power grew from the stump at the end of his arm, take shape, and then solidify. Before his eyes…he had a new hand.

Well, no, not quite. After a moment of excitement from again having both hands, he noticed that there was something…off about his new "hand." It seemed almost…drawn, with some strange texture to the outline, and if he looked at it just right, he could almost see through it. But still, he tried clenching his new "hand" into a fist and it obeyed, and when he touched it to his jacket, he could feel the cloth beneath his "fingers" almost as well as he could with his real hand.

Heimdall waited a second for Tyr to get past his amazement with the new "hand" and again pay attention to him. Once that happened, Heimdall explained "Now, that's not a real hand, obviously, that can't be recreated by any magic I know of. But it _is_ the most detailed and realistic glamour that could be made, and a mortal won't even be able to tell it's fake, not even if they touch it for some reason. Only someone who has spiritual powers might get a bit suspicious, and only a god can tell for sure it's a spell. What do you think?"

Tyr actually smiled as he gazed at his new "hand," a smile similar to Odin's but far less sinister, although not exactly kind, either. "I think," he admitted, "that I might actually enjoy working with you a little after all."

"Excellent," Heimdall said, grinning. "Would you like to see exactly what we're up against? I set something up last night while the moon was full and the jewel's power was greatest that will let us get a bit of an inside scoop on what Loki's doing."

"The catch?" Tyr asked, aware that there had to be one if Heimdall waited so long to show off him creation.

Heimdall sighed as he pulled from a drawer an ornate mirror boarded with various runes, which he hung on the wall with great care. "It only works for an hour or so each day," Heimdall admitted. "And though it'll start watching who you tell it too, it might switch the focus of its sight later on. For example, I could instruct it to watch Loki and it would, but then if Loki spoke with someone it might follow them for a while instead, I don't know why."

"You made this last night, Heimdall. How do you know it'll do that?"

"I've tried to make smaller versions and that's how they worked. I've only been able to make one this large since I got that rune stone. An hour is admittedly a rough estimate, judging by the amount of times the smaller versions had." Heimdall looked at Tyr. "Wanna see what Loki's up to?"

Tyr shrugged. "Loki's a child now, right? I might as well at least see what he looks like now."

Heimdall nodded and faced the mirror. He stared at it for a second, and then his reflection began to swirl about. The colors changed and the runes glowed. "Flashy," Tyr commented, apparently disapproving, and Heimdall made a mental note to explain that showiness of the spell had not been the result of showing off, it was just a necessary part to bewitching the mirror.

But that would have to wait, for now the mirror showed not Heimdall, but instead a view of the inside of Loki's house, and, more importantly, Loki himself, glaring at something and looking less than amused by whatever he was seeing. The mirror's point of view changed to show what he was looking at…Tyr and Heimdall exchanged surprised looks as it revealed a young lady in casual clothes accented with a baseball cap who bore an unsettling resemblance to Loki and held a suitcase in hand.

"Who's she?" Tyr asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her before," Heimdall admitted.

Loki's voice rang out through the mirror, regaining their attention. "Rokia, if you think for once second I'm actually going to let you live in my house just like that, then you're even crazier than I remember."

"Aw, come on," she said sweetly in response, apparently immune to the venom in Loki's tone of voice. "Hyu can't just kick me out, ve're family, shukenherz!"

"She's a Jotun," Tyr breathed. That was not good. Jotun's were typically violent and a little sadistic, and very family oriented, so if this one was related to Loki, she posed a huge threat to the mission.

"Don't call me that!" Loki shouted, looking embarrassed. "Despite my current form, I'm not a child, you'll remember!"

The girl shrugged. "Indulge your mother, ya?" she asked, not knowing that some ways off Tyr and Heimdall practically fell over from the shock of hearing _that_. His mother!? Crap, she'd be insanely protective of Loki! It would be half impossible to get past her to get to him if she had her way!

Loki, meanwhile, facepalmed, apparently exasperated by this woman's reappearance in his already complicated life. "Well, could you at least give me a reason why you're skipping school to come here? Or did you forget you've been doing that to maintain your current identity?"

Rokia shrugged. "I'm nearly as old as Odin himself-"

"So you're an old crone," Loki mumbled.

She ignored him. "…so I'm quite knowledgeable. One day witout school won't hurt too much."

"Plus Nariko's still mad at you for not telling her earlier you knew she was really Thor's daughter, right?" Loki commented. In the home base of Loki's enemies, Tyr leaned closer to the mirror at the mention of Thrud.

Rokia shrugged and nodded sheepishly. "That gorl's got quite a temper. And a mean right hook. It'll be best for me to, ah, give her some space for a few days, ya? Plus I need to move my stoff."

"I never said you could live here!" Loki shouted, getting angry again.

"Show sympathy to your modder, ya?" Rokia suggested, leaning down a little and tapping him on the nose with her index finger, which just made Loki grimace and take a step back. "Besides, your kids are just fine vit it!"

"That's because you've been smothering them with compliments and you promised to get them both gifts," Loki told her.

She shrugged again. "I'm their grandma, it's my job to pamper them! And Angerboda, er, I mean Spica, she's okay with it too, ya? She suggested it. So, you're outnumbered." And with that, she considered the argument ended, and she hefted up her suitcase and walked up the stairs.

Still steaming, Loki called out after her "You're lucky you're my mother, or I swear, I would hate you!"

Rokia laughed. "You couldn't hate me, I'm far too loveable! You got that same trait, remember?" And she continued upstairs, leaving Loki alone, standing in the hallway looking like he had a headache.

Back with Tyr and Heimdall, the god of schemes moaned and put his head in his hands, distraught. "I don't believe it. Finally, another ally shows up for the side of Odin…just in time for Loki to get another ally himself! His mother, the Jotun giantess Nal…she'll be a force to be reckoned with, dammit! I didn't care when I found out about Angerboda because she can't fight, but Nal…she's among the older Jotun, she'll be a brilliant fighter!"

"Calm yourself, Heimdall, it's not over yet," Tyr told him, not in the mood for melodrama and having no intention of being intimidated by a giant, no matter how experienced she was or what her relationship to Loki might be.

Heimdall nodded, taking a deep breath to help clear his head. "You're right, of course," he agreed. "Besides…we do have our own last resort we can go to if worst comes to worst."

Tyr was confused. "And that would be…?" he prompted.

Heimdall glanced at him. "You won't like it, having your sense of 'fair play' and everything…"

"Now I _really_ need to know what it is," Tyr told him, scowling again.

Heimdall shrugged and looked into the mirror. Again, it swirled with color and glowed, changing to show a pretty pink haired girl sitting in her classroom, trying to look attentive but obviously daydreaming.

"Her name is Mayura," Heimdall informed Tyr. "She's a rather silly human girl, one who has no sixth sense what-so-ever but adores the world's 'strange mysteries.' She's attached herself to Loki…he has a rather crippling fondness for her." Heimdall looked up at the god of war. "If worst comes to worst, holding her hostage or putting her in danger is an excellent way to get at Loki.

"So you plan to use this child like some sort of tool!?" Tyr said loudly, obviously disapproving. He disliked the idea of manipulating people: he loathed cheaters and believed in fairness.

Heimdall looked away, not guilty but rather annoyed. "I told you that you wouldn't like it. That's why she's currently our last resort. Along with Angerboda and Siguna, who will also get a similar reaction if placed in…certain situations."

Tyr's scowl deepened. "Siguna really is here, then?"

Heimdall nodded. "She goes by the name Kori Hanabusa now, and is in a youthful form like Loki, but she's here." Heimdall knew better than to mention that he had tried to kill the girl already. Tyr had great respect for loyalty, and as such was very much respectful of Siguna and her undying devotion to others, even if the most obvious "other" was someone like Loki.

Instead, Heimdall changed the subject by looking into the mirror again. It didn't swirl with magic this time but instead merely changed the viewpoint so that it showed both Mayura and the boy sitting nearby her: Narugami. Tyr caught sight of him and grimaced. He and Thor were not on the best of terms, to put it lightly.

"Thor goes by the name Narugami now, and is also friends with Mayura, although not as close as Loki," Heimdall explained, but then Tyr put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"You want to see Thrud?" Heimdall asked.

"Yes."

"You really are fond of her…"

"I'm unmarried and have no children. Thrud's like the daughter I'll never have. Now show her too me."

Heimdall shrugged to get Tyr's hand off of him, and then gazed into the glass once again. It took a little longer this time…but within a minute or so, the mirror showed Nariko Ikazuchi, who was determinedly studying a book, fiercely concentrating as she did whenever she was focused on learning something new. Unlike her father, who had changed considerably when sent to Midgard, Thrud was essentially the same as when she was in the world of the gods, something that didn't escape Tyr's notice. "She wasn't disguised…"

Heimdall nodded. "Yes, whoever sent her here with the Norns didn't bother trying to keep her hidden…I haven't thought of too many theories about why just yet. All I have to go on is that she, the Norns, and most everyone on Loki's side are under the impression Odin sent her, and that she hasn't been called upon at all since arriving. I need to know more about what she's been doing since coming to Midgard."

"Which will be my first job?" Tyr asked.

Heimdall nodded. "You will probably end up fighting eventually, Tyr, but yes, the best course of action at the moment is for you to try and reestablish your former closeness with Thrud so we can-"

"What do you mean by 'reestablish,' Heimdall?" Tyr interrupted, not pleased with the insinuation that Thrud had lost any sort of affection or respect she had once held for him, or him for her.

"It's been a while since Thor discovered you were teaching his daughter swordplay behind his back and ended your training lessons with her," Heimdall explained. "Since then, she's barely even gotten to talk to you thanks to that over-protective father of hers. I don't doubt she still trusts you, of course, but talking to her again may prove more difficult than you think, especially since she's recently run into her father again. Don't get overconfident about your ability to turn that loyalty."

Tyr nodded. "When should I meet her?" he asked.

"I'd suggest right after her school day ends. She and her father go to different schools, so he won't show up to interrupt your conversation, and it's only a few hours from now." Heimdall smirked at the Tyr in a way Tyr found less than amusing. "I mean, may fate itself forbid that you be kept waiting too long before talking to 'the daughter you'll never have' again."

"Don't mock me, Heimdall," Tyr warned, moving his hand-his real hand, his left hand-as though about to reach into his coat and pull out a weapon. Being the god of war, he probably did have sword or something on him.

Heimdall rolled his eyes. "You have no sense of humor, you know that?" he commented, not at all intimidated by Tyr's fierce glare. "Stay calm…Just wait, and the pieces will fall into place in our favor."

((And thus, I end chapter sixteen. Pretty interesting, ya? (Haha, that was a Rokia moment!) Tyr will be a bit of a challenge to write for me, because I'm used to writing goofs and Tyr is a serious kind of person (Heimdall's right, he has no sense of humor to speak of, really), so any comments you have about how he seems to you would be vastly appreciated.

Tyr, by the way, is the Norse god of war, justice, and courage, if I recall correctly, and a son of Odin. Which, of course, would make him brother to Thor and Heimdall, among others…talk about your dysfunctional families. Anyway, earlier Heimdall said that Tyr had once trained Nariko-Thrud in combat behind her father's back. That is not from the mythology, I made that up myself. Just so ya know.

Next chappie will focus on Mayura and her schoolmates, plus yet another god…want a hint as to his identity? Hmm…well, let's put it this way: if he ends up against Loki, our little fire god will be in hot water!

Review as soon as you can, because I'm impatient! Later, taters!))


	17. The New Teacher

((Awright, so now Heimdall has another ally…one that, unlike Frey, is actually quite capable of being a threat to Loki

((Awright, so now Heimdall has another ally…one that, unlike Frey, is actually quite capable of being a threat to Loki! And we've seen what kind of stuff that magic rune stone lets Heimdall do…some pretty cool magic, when you think about it. Things aren't looking too good for our little god of chaos, even with his crazy Jotun giantess mother on his side.

But, as promised, this chapter brings about, along with some love for Mayura and Kotaro, another new ally for Loki! Man, I have so many OCs for this thing…I haven't even introduced some of my favorites yet.

IMPORTANT: Please review my story! Seriously! I really like getting as many reviews as I can, and I know that from the number of hits this story gets that my fans are either really hardcore and read each chapter several times or else I've got a lot of people reading but not reviewing. So please…please…please…reviews. They make me warm and fuzzy inside.

Oh, and although I forgot to mention this the past few times, no, I own nothing except the storyline and the OCs.

Also, although it probably matters to no one but me…when I brought in Odin, I realized when rereading that chapter for boredom, I forgot to mention an important part of his appearance…the dude's got an eye patch. He lost one of his eyes, as those who know the myths are aware. I forgot to say so and I even referred to his "eyes," like multiple, a time or two. So, I felt I had to make sure you're aware that I'm aware Odin's kinda a Cyclops. Just like Heimdall. Heh.

Review shout outs! Or rather, shout out…Which I REMEMBER THIS TIME!

Seven Midnights: I'm glad you enjoy Tyr's serious nature. Courage, war, justice…Tyr's got a pretty cool bunch of things to reign over, doesn't he? Aw, it's okay that you couldn't figure out which god comes next, you're about to find out anyway!

And now, we visit our favorite ditzy, pink-haired, mystery loving schoolgirl and her classmates.))

"Mayura, once again, your grade was abysmal," the teacher informed the girl as he handed back her math test, where she'd gotten a seventeen. Out of a hundred and fifteen, counting bonus points. Numbers were not Mayura's strong point, but she didn't need to know percentages to know that was _not_ a good grade.

When the teacher gave Narugami his test back, she heard a large THUD as his head hit the desk in reaction to his score. At the very least, she figured, she had a kindred spirit to complain about the difficulty of the test with later, since they both couldn't help not studying due to their important lives (i.e. part time jobs for one and hanging out with Loki for the other).

Meanwhile, the teacher gave Kotaro some lavish praise for his astonishingly brilliant work. Mayura had to admit, she'd be jealous if she wasn't so impressed. How could he possibly do well with stuff like this…? He must be some sort of genius was all. And he was rich, too. Lucky him…

"Well, now that your tests are back and nearly all of you can begin planning for SUMMER SCHOOL," (half the students gasped, Mayura felt her stomach lurch at the idea of summer school, and she heard Narugami make a weird sound like he had just had a heart attack.) "I can give you a minute or so break. You have a new history teacher, as I'm sure you gossipy children know, and he'll be here shortly." And with that, the terrible teacher left the room.

Mayura sighed and turned so she could look at Narugami, who sat diagonally behind her. "Why does Professor Asano have to be so mean to us?" she whined. "I mean, 'gossipy children' on top of these horrible tests!?"

Narugami shrugged. "He probably has no friends and just likes to take it out on us or something," he suggested. "I'll bet eventually karma comes back and bites him for being such a total-"

"You're just mad because you failed," Kotaro butted in. Honestly, he could only take so much of these two! Plus, no matter how much they glared at him (like they were doing now), he knew it was their own fault for never studying.

"Easy for you to say, rich kid," Narugami mumbled. "Just because _you_ happen to have the golden touch for tests or something…"

"It's called 'studying.' You should try it." Kotaro countered.

"Both of you calm down!" Mayura said quickly, knowing that Narugami was not above starting a fight and Kotaro was not above fighting back. "We shouldn't be fighting when the new teacher shows up!"

"What happened to the old one, anyway?" Narugami wondered aloud.

"One of my girlfriends said something about a mysterious accident keeping her from coming into work," Kotaro commented.

"Did you say MYSTERIOUS!?" Mayura asked, her eyes lighting up. She didn't notice Narugami roll his eyes and mouth 'Way to go' at Kotaro. Nor did she notice the annoyed, 'Oh, god, why did I say that?' look on Kotaro's face. "It could be aliens attempting an abduction! Or a poltergeist attack! Or the result of demonic possession! Or maybe a chupacabra got here somehow and-"

"A chupa-what now?" Narugami interrupted, having no clue what the Hel one of those was.

His question was never answered. The doorknob to the room turned and everyone went silent and faced forward, the arrival of their new teacher completely enveloping their attention.

The man who walked in seemed to be in his late forties or early fifties in age, but was rather handsome for an old guy. His hair was pale blonde mixed with pure white, and he had a beard that went down the sides of his face and chin but did not go above his mouth, and was obviously well maintained. He wore clothes far more casual than most teachers, but somehow when he walked in his stature made the students instantly feel he was a figure who they should respect. Perhaps it had something to do with his being a few inches taller than six feet in height.

He went to the front of the room to the desk, than turned his warm, sea green eyes onto his new charges and gave them a friendly smile. "Hello, class," he greeted them in the kindest manner. "I'm your new history teacher, Professor Shiromizu. I hope you find me agreeable." He glanced at the door. "I'm certain you'll like me more than that rather ill-tempered man who just left you…he probably gives you nightmares."

After a second of shock that the new teacher had said something like that, Mayura and several other students chuckled. This Professor Shiromizu seemed very nice! Much better than the math teacher, Mayura was sure.

"Now, much as I'm sure you'd like to goof off right now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to make you work a bit," he informed the class, most of whom moaned a little. Professor Shiromizu smirked a little. "On the bright side, I'm not planning on giving you homework tonight in honor of my first day teaching." That got a much better reaction: a lot of the students smiled or sighed with relief and a couple kids in the back cheered, trying to be funny.

"Alright, take out your books and open them to page…" he trailed off and blinked, looking at one student in particular with a little confusion. He pulled out a syllabus that must have had the seating chart, glanced at it, and then asked the student in question "Are you feeling all right, Mr. Narugami?"

Mayura, like the majority of her classmates, turned to look at him. He was staring at Professor Shiromizu in shock, pointing at the teacher in amazement. His mouth was open, but no sound was coming out. Mayura was a little worried, but not too much. In fact, she was wondering if this mysterious behavior might lead to a strange mystery. (Can you say "obsessive?")

Professor Shiromizu went over to Narugami and looked him over, than seemed to suddenly notice something. His eyes narrowed a little bit, or was Mayura just seeing things…? "I think I should talk to you in the hallway for a moment," the teacher announced, grabbing Narugami by the wrist and pulling the stunned boy from his seat. "The rest of you should probably open to page 154 and get a head start on me, but I know you want to talk, so either's fine."

The second Narugami was in the hallway, the second he was out of the room with all those mortals and the "teacher" had closed the door, he turned to him and shouted "What in Odin's name are you doing here!?"

The teacher scowled and glanced at the closed door. "Say it a little louder, Thor, I don't think they all heard you," he suggested sarcastically, proving by stating the thunder god's true name that he was, indeed, yet another deity.

"Seriously, what do you think you're doing!?" Narugami continued shouting. "A school teacher!? What the hell are you planning!?"

"Thor, or Narugami, whichever you prefer…" the teacher tried to calm his overreacting student down.

"What do you plan to do!?"

"Look, settle down, would you?"

"Are you on Odin's side? Are you another one of his cronies?"

"Well-"

"If you're even thinking about doing something that'll hurt people, I'll make you regret it!"

"Hardly. Look, Thor-"

"You're scheming something, aren't you!?"

"Calm down, Thor."

"Are you going to use any of those humans in there!?"

"Calm down, Thor."

"If you are, I'll-"

"THOR." The taller man grabbed Narugami by the front of his shirt and lifted him up to his eye level, which was high enough that his feet left the floor. Glaring at the shocked face of this temperamental and rather slow-minded god before him, he once again repeated "CALM DOWN."

After a moment of pure silence, Professor Shiromizu asked "Are you calm now?"

"Y-yes," Narugami answered, apparently unused to being in this sort of position since, among the gods, he had been taller and stronger and therefore unable to _put_ in this sort of position.

"Are you sure…?" the teacher inquired.

Narugami thought for a second, and then nodded. "Yes. I'm sure. Um, can you put me down now?"

Apparently satisfied by this, Professor Shiromizu lowered Narugami to the ground and released him. The thunder god instantly backed off a few paces and brushed off his shirt, smoothing it back down. "You're a pacifist, since when have _you_ been so aggressive?" he mumbled.

Professor Shiromizu smiled a little. "Well, how else would I get you shut up and let me answer your questions?" he asked. He then set about to answering them. "I'm doing nothing 'in Odin's name,' for your exact phrasing. I'm here more to be an ally to Loki than an enemy, like you. I have no plans on using these children…quite the opposite, I plan to protect them."

Narugami took that in, and then gave the taller god a questioning look. "Aegir…" he said, taking care to think out his words this time instead of babbling like earlier. "You're a sea deity. Loki's a fire god. You've never been able to stand him. What's more, didn't your wife Ran…"

"Fall for him like half the other Asgardian women did?" finished Professor Shiromizu, who was really the ocean god Aegir, one of the ancient gods and a powerful figure, the father of the nine girls who controlled the waves. He sighed, looking rather dejected. "Yes, she did."

"So why do you want to help Loki?" Narugami inquired, confused. "You have every reason to hate him."

"Yea, but I don't wish to hate anyone," the sea god said with a shrug. "And even if I did, I wouldn't act on that hate. I prefer life to death, even if said life belongs to someone like Loki. Besides, I'm not here as an ally to Loki in that I'll be helping him fight off all the assassins Odin sends."

"Oh?"

The teacher nodded. "You see, as I'm sure you know, Ran has been feeling…less than well lately."

"She's gone totally nuts," Narugami said bluntly.

After giving the thunder god a dirty look, Aegir continued. "I recently found out why. She's mad with rage at Loki."

"Huh?"

"She offered to…well, let's just say it would drive Siguna mad with rage if she knew. But Loki spurned her affections. And then the Balder incident…she was friends with Balder. She still had feelings for Loki, but she started to hate him too…she couldn't handle it any more."

Narugami couldn't quite bring himself to look the other god in the eye as Aegir calmly discussed Ran's unfaithfulness and apparent decent into madness. This was Aegir's _wife_ they were discussing, after all. Poor guy…

"She's dangerous in her current state. She feels betrayed by Loki, but she also still wants him." Professor Shiromizu's scowl deepened. "And before too long, she'll be down here too. Odin plans to send her as another assassin."

Narugami jumped at that last bit, than said the only comprehensible thought that came to him mind: "Shit, that isn't good."

"Obviously," Professor Shiromizu agreed, trying not to be sarcastic and being as patient as he could be with Narugami. "She'll be the most dangerous assassin yet, even more than Heimdall, I think. And she won't be above trying to injure those he cares about to get at him."

"So you're not here to protect Loki from Ran…" Narugami said as it all began to click, "You're here to protect those _around_ Loki from her. People like Mayura…I figure the gods back home are aware of her presence by now, huh?"

"Some of us," Aegir confirmed. "I dislike the idea of anyone getting hurt, particularly innocent humans who did nothing but make friends with the wrong people. So, I came here as a teacher to make sure nothing goes wrong." He frowned. "I'm also going to make sure nothing _wrong_ goes on with Loki and Ran…"

Narugami smirked. "Not likely. Siguna is here on earth, and she's found us. Goes by the name Kori Hanabusa now. So, Ran won't get near Loki. She'd never allow it…she'd strangle whichever of them she got her hands on first."

Aegir blinked. "I was aware that Siguna was here, but not that she'd found Loki…interesting. Well, we'll deal with this later. Time to get back to class. We have an identity too keep up, after all. So I'm Professor Shiromizu now. Oh, and by the way, if you even think about using one of those rotten little nicknames Loki came up with for me in ages past…"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Narugami said with a grin, and the two headed back into the classroom.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A while away, a bus had crashed into a building. The driver had experienced a sudden heart attack and lost control. The bus was now overturned, the poor people within it all trapped as around them onlookers tried to assist or called 911. It was utter chaos and impossible that every person involved would survive.

One of the passengers was a youth, a young girl about the same age as one Mayura Daidoji we happen to know. She had been sitting in the front, the unfortunate creature, and as such she had received quite a lot of broken glass thrown at her and blunt force trauma from the collision. Crumpled on the floor, or rather the ceiling, of the vehicle, things were starting to go dark for her, and she was losing the energy to even be petrified for her fate, to comprehend that this could be the end.

But then there was a light, a bright red light in the otherwise black void she was slipping into. _This poor girl will be perfect,_ rang out a man's voice. It was a cold, rather malicious voice, and it would have terrified her if she hadn't been so glad to still hear something, anything.

_But Odin,_ responded another voice to the first, this time a female's. Her voice was softer and more elegant, like velvet. She practically purred as she insisted _I can handle having my own body, like Heimdall, Frey, and Tyr. I don't need to be placed away in some mortal._

Who were these voices, and what were they talking about? The girl wondered. Her ability to reason was returning as the utter panic faded. She'd expected, if she was dying and saw a light, she'd find herself in a tunnel, hear dead relatives beckon, and get mugged by an angel or whatever at the end. These people hardly sounded like the angels she'd learned of in Sunday school…and she was certain she hadn't done anything bad enough to merit going the _other_ way…

_No,_ the man's voice said, not amused by the woman. _I do not trust you to be left to your own whims like them. By sharing a body with a mortal, you will be kept in control. Besides, it's a good shield…Loki probably won't hurt you if he knows it'll hurt a mortal too. He's still in denial._

Now she was starting to get scared again. Who were these people talking in her head as she should be, and probably was, dying? What did they mean when they said 'share a body?' What was going on? What was going to happen?

_Relax,_ the man's voice said, this time directing the comment at the girl, as though he'd heard her nervous and barely comprehensible thoughts. _I will allow you to survive this tragedy. You just have to do me a little favor in return by holding onto something, or rather, someone, for a little while._

And the girl suddenly felt something being forced into her very soul, she felt herself changing. What was this sensation? What was happening to her?

It didn't matter. Soon it all just disappeared, and she wouldn't remember the strange incident in the end.

((Ooo, drama at the end! Who's this girl? What's happened to her? You'll learn that…eventually! Mwahaha! And yes…I did have to have Mayura bring up chupacabras. Because it's totally random and it's fun to say. Plus I like confusing Narugami just for the hell of it.

Oh, a note about Aegir and Ran: they are two sea deities in Norse mythology. Aegir was supposed to be old and powerful, while his wife Ran was beautiful and just as strong. While I've found no myths with the two, Ran is said to have liked gold, have been the mother of nine daughters who apparently controlled (or were) the waves, and habitually took the lucky souls of some drowned sailors to her underwater palace. The bit about her falling for Loki and going crazy? That was my own imagination.

Anyway, what do you think of this chappie? I think it turned out okay, but it could be so much better…whatever, I just need some more talent is all. And I'm worried about Aegir…he's a difficult character to write. Anyway, please review! PLEASE!))


	18. Reintroduction reprise

((Alright, so we now have a few new characters added into my twisted little tale, and although I have many more (possibly too

((Alright, so we now have a few new characters added into my twisted little tale, and although I have many more (possibly too many more...) waiting in my bizarre little brain, we should probably take a few chapters to get a better impression of these new pieces in the game. However, I'm honestly not sure how to give them some more depth without messing this up, so…I'm just going to wing it. Part of it is something of a flashback. Let's hope for the best…

No, I don't own the Norse gods, or MDLR. If I did, trust me, you'd all know it.

Review shout outs…Finally, more than one!

Gemini Artemis: Yay, review! Good to know you're still reading this little tale I'm spewing onto the interwebs! It's okay that you don't have anything to say, I still like just knowing people like it!

Seven Midnights: Yup, that was quite obviously Ran being brought up in the end of that chapter. Well, sorta…it's more like the girl Ran will possess, sorta like Reiya is to Freya. Anyway, yeah, Ran went bonkers over Loki, of course it was just a matter of time. At least you can resist.

And onto chapter 18…)

Nariko wondered what to do now that school was over. Her latest job didn't have her on today, and she couldn't hang out with Rokia, since the newly-revealed Jotun had skipped school. Nariko did have some other friends, of course, but she didn't feel like bothering them just because she apparently had no life…Well, she probably could phrase it better than that.

She sighed as she exited the school, rather at a loss. Should she see her dad? No, he _did_ have work today, he'd be busy. Should she go to Loki's? On one hand, she'd get some snacks, but on the other hand, Loki would probably not be too happy with her for bringing Rokia around…she'd better not risk it.

She wandered down a randomly chosen street, one that lead in the general direction of her apartment, where she also didn't want to go due to how crowded and noisy the building was. As she ambled along, she came across a long stick that had a thick end just right to grip in her hand. Giving into childish impulse, Nariko lifted it and began lazily swinging it around.

Before too long, however, her swings were more graceful, more planned. The stick had become a makeshift sword, and Nariko brandished it with reflex so quick it was almost instinct. The street was deserted, which was a good thing. In addition to the fact that this prevented Nariko from looking foolish or violent to an onlooker, it also prevented her from accidentally assaulting someone, because she was now completely lost in memory and thought.

Back home, in Asgard, Nariko, then Thrud, had been pretty well off. But, other than the constant heckling from Vali, there was one thing that had made her miserable: her lack of strength.

Sure, she had been naturally gifted with brute strength from her father, along with some power over lightning, but it wasn't enough. She knew from seeing her brothers, Magni and Modi, that one couldn't really be considered strong until they also had the training and focus to use it correctly. Her brothers' natural strength may have been only the same as hers for all she knew, but they were infinitely stronger because they had been trained to use it to its fullest potential through lessons in things like swordplay and hand-to-hand combat.

But Thor, for all of the affection, companionship, and understanding there was between him and his daughter, had one major flaw in his parenting her: he was exceptionally protective of her, even overprotective at times. Magni and Modi were one thing, being sturdy, powerful boys who had inherited great endurance from their giantess mother Jarnsaxa. But Thor would be damned if her ever gave anyone the chance to lay one finger on his precious little daughter.

While not the quickest thinker around, he did have a sense of logic. Learning to fight, he realized, would inevitably lead _to_ fighting. A person who didn't know how to fight, meanwhile, would be more likely to avoid fighting. Therefore, the best way to keep Thrud out of harm's way was to not allow her to train in combat. Despite all her pleas, arguments, and attempts to soften him up, Thor was adamant about not letting Thrud be trained for battle.

And eventually there came the ultimate blow: as the prophecy of Ragnarok was revealed in bits and pieces, it was understood that Thor was to die in battle. And, to Thrud's horror and rage, he declared that when/if that happened, Mjollnir was to be given to Magni and Modi as inheritance because they were probably the only ones other than Thor himself who had the strength to use the weapon.

Thrud was furious and filled to the brim with more envy than ever. She was sure, positive, that with the right training she could be as powerful as her brothers. But, although Thor was usually more than willing to give Thrud whatever she wanted, this was one matter he would not back down on. And Thrud, because she was so rarely forbidden from anything by her otherwise doting father, hadn't the slightest clue what to do about this.

Which is where her uncle, her father's half-brother Tyr, came into the picture. Thrud had always rather looked up to the war god, who, despite the morbidity of that which he reigned over, was actually rather good natured and kind, although humorless. She was impressed by his bravery and virtue, particularly concerning his courage when approaching Fenrir, even when he lost his _hand_ for it. She also admired his strength, for in addition to generally being a spectacular soldier, he had even been so talented to learn to fight with one hand, which had to have been extremely difficult, since he was (or had been) right-handed.

Not long after learning of Magni and Modi's inheritance, Thrud had decided to confide in someone other than her sister Lora, who didn't really care, or Hnossa, her best friend and Freya's daughter, who tried to be sympathetic but really didn't get it. She had explained the situation to Tyr, certain he'd understand what Thrud was so upset about.

He got it, alright. He even went so far as to go Thor and tell him to his face that preventing a potentially brilliant warrior like Thrud from receiving training was, to put it simply, downright stupid. Thor had not reacted too well to this criticism. It was Thrud's panicked pleas for them to calm down that managed to keep them from drawing their weapons and attacking each other, and that barely worked. And Thor _still_ remained firm in his decree that Thrud was forbidden from education in combat.

Shortly after, as the luck of the gods would have it, Thor had to go on a trip through Jotunheim that would take a few months. Tyr, still angered by Thor's stubbornness as stupidity, and apparently impressed and intrigued with Thrud's desire to become stronger, made a suggestion: he would teach his niece how to fight anyway, behind Thor's back.

At any other time, Thrud would have refused, appalled by the idea of disobeying her father. But the insult and injury from the announcement of Mjollnir's fate was still fresh, and she was still rather reeling from her plight almost bringing two great gods to fighting. Plus, she was, for all the trouble it caused, very grateful to Tyr for sticking up for her the way he did. So, she accepted the offer.

Tyr was not disappointed by is new apprentice. She was strong, she was focused, she was talented, and, above all, she was motivated. Tyr had planned on training her only while Thor was away, but Thrud's potential was too great for him to stop teaching her after she'd learned some basics. While Thor was gone Tyr had trained the girl within the walls of Asgard, but after Thor returned the lessons had to take place somewhere else. Tyr decided to go to an isolated place people would never expect him or Thrud to go: the island on which Fenrir was bound. After locating a clearing a decent distance from Fenrir, Tyr began bringing Thrud there for her lessons.

Lessons weren't too frequent, partially so Thor's suspicions wouldn't be roused and partially because Thrud felt guilty about disobeying him, but they were often enough for her to become extremely adept in swordplay and archery, among other skills. Tyr, typically anti-social, became very warm and caring towards Thrud, who showed increased respect and fondness for him. But this improved relationship with Tyr had a price: he closer she got to her uncle and teacher, the guiltier she felt around her father, and she began avoiding him.

Thor, although he noticed that Thrud was less and less comfortable around him, had no inkling of what was going on. As such, he began to worry about her. But Thor couldn't exactly get Thrud to tell him what was up when she was so nervous about him, and even though Tyr seemed to be getting along fine with her, Thor was not about to exchange words with him. In short, things were not alright in the family.

Fortunately for the relationship between Thor and his dear daughter, but not for that of her and Tyr, this situation did come to an end. This was due to the fact that Tyr and Thrud had forgotten one not-so-tiny detail about the island they were using: it had another person who frequently visited.

It happened after Thrud had been training under Tyr for some time (whether it was several months, years, decades, or something else, Thrud would never know: with the eternal youth gifted to them by Idunn's apples and the lack of seasonal change in Asgard, time was hard to really keep track of). And what is "it," you ask? It's when Loki, happening to come across Thrud on her own in the gardens one day and striking up conversation, casually mentioned that he was well aware of Tyr and Thrud's use of the island for combat training.

After Thrud finished taking that in and then promptly flipping out about it, Loki told her that he'd been aware of it from the very beginning, because Fenrir had caught their scents and mentioned it to his visiting father, who had then investigated a bit and quickly realized what was what. He then assured Thrud that he had not told Thor anything about this, because he had to agree with Tyr that preventing Thrud from reaching her full potential was unfair.

However, Loki had continued, he had to admit he _was_ rather surprised that Thrud had gone to such measures to learn how to fight. After all, putting Tyr in a position where he had to lie and sneak about, while also disobeying and worrying her father who loved her so very much was a little _extreme_, wasn't it? But, Loki had finished with a friendly smile, she was getting what she wanted, and the ends justified the means, right? And with that, Loki had simply walked away, leaving the thoroughly guilt ridden Thrud standing there in shock.

I'm sure most people can see a clear manipulation of Thrud's emotions there, which was exactly what Loki had intended. He had indeed kept the secret from Thor, but after a while, when Thor had started to become more and more depressed about Thrud's apparent loss of affection for him, Loki had decided that Thor had a right to know what his daughter was up to. Besides, Loki had nothing even close to a liking for Tyr, and the idea of an amusing and emotional child like Thrud eventually turning into his little follower or soldier or some-such appalled him.

Still, he didn't want to tell Thor of this himself: if Thor didn't become enraged at Loki simply for being the bringer of bad news, he would definitely be furious when he realized Loki had been keeping it from him for that long. And if Loki survived that, he'd have to then eventually face Tyr, who wouldn't be happy with him for spilling the beans. With two of the most highly respected Aesir that angry at him, Loki's already rising reputation as a trouble-maker, menace, and possible threat to Asgard would skyrocket. And to top it off, it would do little or nothing for Thrud's conscience or her relationship with her father.

If, on the other hand, Thor was not informed by a third party, but instead confessed to by one of the two others who were directly involved, Loki wouldn't face too much threat to his own well being. Tyr, Loki figured, wouldn't come clean about this to Thor is his life depended on it, but Thrud might. If she did, it would reestablish some of the love lost between them, since Thor would never be capable of being mad at his daughter for too long. Tyr might end up facing a little bit of Thor's wrath, but the two probably wouldn't do any (lasting) damage to each other for Thrud's sake. And as a bonus, since Thrud had already received some training and handled it, Thor might consider letting the training continue, either eventually letting Tyr teach her again or starting to educate her himself.

So instead of telling Thor what was going on, he went Thrud and played on her guilt, knowing that another person saying what was probably all going through her head would make an already burdensome secret nearly impossible to bear.

His little "chat" with Thrud had the desired effect. Within a few weeks, word spread through Asgard that Thor's youngest daughter had apparently burst into tears and told her father the reason she'd been avoiding him: she'd been disobeying his order not to be trained to fight for some time, taking lessons in weaponry and unarmed combat behind his back to become stronger. Fortunately for Thrud, Thor was far too much of a sucker to be very mad at her for very long, and he'd quickly forgiven her. He seemed angrier at whoever had given her the lessons and assisted in her rebellion against his rule, but Thrud wouldn't say who it was.

Tyr was suspected of being Thrud's tutor, of course, but no one thought that he would really encourage his niece to disobey her father, seeing as Tyr was the god of justice and wasn't likely to suggest his own family member break rules. As such, no one could justify Thor taking action against Tyr, meaning Thor couldn't do _nearly_ as much to Tyr as he obviously wanted to. He could, however, insist that Tyr stay the Hel away from his daughter, which he did. Thrud had barely gotten to speak with him ever again after the incident.

That was many, many years ago. Now Thrud was calling herself Nariko, and was wandering aimlessly down the sidewalk of a city in Japan while swinging around a sword-like stick. It had been ages since her last training session, of course, but she remembered the moves without trouble. Sword fighting had come particularly easy to her, and Tyr had commented more than once that she was a "natural," a person who has an inherit talent so strong it comes to them as if it was instinct, not training. Despite all the trouble that whole situation had been, Thrud did still find herself feeling quite pleased when Tyr's compliment came to mind.

This branch she had found happened to be perfect for this little relapse into her training. It was almost uncanny how well the end of it fit into her grip like a handle, how the weight was so close to that of the wooden practice sword Tyr had made her start with, how is was free of splinters or smaller twigs. If it hadn't been slightly bent and crooked in some places and been so uneven at the end, she might have thought it actually _was_ a practice sword.

The sudden loud blare of a high-pitched tune roused her from her rapture so suddenly that she screamed and jumped. Having been brought back to reality, she realized it was just her cell phone in her pocket ringing the tune it used to alert her of texts. She took a second to take a few deep breaths and calm down before withdrawing the phone to see the message.

It was from Rokia. _"Hi, sorry i skipped, will b in 2morrow. Moved my stuff 2 lokis house, he's not happy but im not gonna leave! Gotta keep my eye on him. ____"_ Nariko rolled her eyes and re-pocketed the phone without replying. Somehow, the idea of Rokia spontaneously moving into Loki's house didn't surprise her nearly as much as it should have.

Now that she was in reality again, she finally took notice of her surroundings: she had wandered up some backstreets and was getting closer to the edge of town. She had already passed the best routes to her apartment, but there was another street coming up shortly that would get her there pretty quickly. She might as well head that way, since she had nowhere else to go. She glanced at the stick in her hand, shrugged, and chucked it behind her as she began to walk away.

But the stick did not clatter to the ground. Instead of hearing it strike the pavement, she heard a voice call out to her "You shouldn't just throw things like that. You could hit someone."

She stopped dead in her tracks. She knew that voice…but it couldn't be…she turned around slowly…and it was.

Tyr stood several feet behind her, looking as tough and ready for battle as ever, the stick Nariko had tossed in his hand because he'd caught it. And he was smiling one of his extremely rare smiles, one filled with a lot of warmth and affection that he never directed at anyone but his niece and once-apprentice.

Nariko found herself grinning too. "Uncle!" she exclaimed, and she ran up to him but suddenly stopped, as though she'd planned to embrace him but changed her hand at the last second.

If he was in any way offended or surprised by this, he didn't show it. He just dropped the stick, put his hands on her shoulders and got a good look at her. "It's good to see you're well. Has life on Midgard been difficult?"

Nariko shook her head. "Nope. I mean, getting new jobs is a little hard, but I can…wait a minute…" Nariko glanced at the hand Tyr was not supposed to have, and was surprised to see that it was there, although rather odd looking. "What is that?"

"A glamour, nothing much," Tyr said in a dismissive voice that clearly meant he wasn't in the mood to discuss that. "Anyway, I watched you just now, with the branch…it's good to see you haven't forgotten your lessons."

Nariko shrugged. "I'm a 'natural,' remember?" she commented. Then she frowned. "I'm glad to see you, but…why are you here, Uncle?"

Tyr removed his hands from his niece's shoulders and crossed his arms, looking away a bit, his smile gone. "I have a few reasons. One was that I wanted to see you, make sure you were okay…after all, you don't have Odin's protection."

"What do you mean?" Nariko asked, surprised. "Grandfather sent me here, why wouldn't I have his protection?"

Tyr shook his head. "The Allfather didn't send you, Thrud. Someone else put you at the mercy of the Norns and claimed it was Odin's desire, but he wasn't planning on making you get involved in this mess. We don't know why you're here."

She absorbed that for a second. "Well, that explains why he didn't take me back when the Norns lost their loyalty…" she finally mumbled. Then she added "Oh, and my name on Midgard is Nariko. Call me that."

"Nariko," Tyr repeated, looking a little bit annoyed. "That means 'child of the storm,' right?"

"Yes. Because I am," she confirmed, unable to keep the pride out of her voice in the last bit. Tyr's frown began to turn into a scowl, but Nariko didn't seem to notice. "Anyway, if I'm one reason, what's another?"

Tyr was now blatantly not meeting Nariko's eyes. "Well, I'm also here because Heimdall requested an ally."

Now Nariko scowled. She remembered the night at the museum when he had taken the rune stone at the cost of thousands of dollars worth of other displays and Loki's confidence. Come to think of it, that had only been three nights ago! So if Tyr was Heimdall's newest asset… "You plan to kill Loki?"

"Actually, Heimdall plans to do that, and he'll be damned if someone else gets to him first," Tyr reminded her. "But I plan to help him to that end…ridding the world of Fenrir is something I wouldn't mind doing either."

"And if another god gets in your way?" Nariko prompted.

Tyr sighed. Heimdall, damn him, had been right, her trust in him had been lessened considerably. "Well, it depends on the god. If it was, say, Siguna, I'd just knock her out of the way. If it was someone more destructive, like that giantess who's shown up, I'd probably try to remove her from the issue more…permanently."

Some of the blood drained from Nariko's face. "You mean you'd kill Rokia!?"

Tyr glanced back at the girl, surprised. "You know her?"

"She's my friend!" Nariko informed him. "You can't hurt her!"

He looked at her a moment longer, and then shrugged. "I wouldn't harm her unless she harmed me first."

Nariko took a deep breath. "What if…it was my dad who got in your way?"

"I must admit, I'd enjoy the chance to finally have a good fight with Thor. As for what'd happen, well, that depends on who's the stronger of us," Tyr said. He was smiling again, but it was not the warm smile from before. It was more of a leer. It was the result of a once kind smile becoming more malevolent. It scared Nariko, seeing her otherwise nice and level-headed uncle with a grin some would define as evil. If she had known this smile was an inheritance from Odin, she'd have been even more worried.

"And what if _I_ got in your way?" Nariko asked after a second.

The grin vanished from Tyr's face instantaneously. He looked her in the eyes, his expression firm and serious. She remembered that look: he gave it to her during training when she asked a foolish question or made a silly mistake.

"Do you intend to get in my way?" he inquired in response to her question. "Do you plan to fight me?"

Nariko stared at him. What could she say? This was her dear uncle, this was her teacher, how could she ever fight him in something other than a sparring match? But she couldn't just stand back if he attacked others, particularly her father or her best friend. What was she supposed to do?

After a good minute or so of staring, the silence was again interrupted by Nariko's phone, making both deities practically jump out of their shoes. It continued to ring this time, meaning it was an actual call. Glad for the distraction, Nariko quickly answered, turning her back to Tyr and greeting the caller "Hello, this is Nariko."

"Heya, girlie!" laughed the person on the other end. "Hyu didn't return my text. Is someting wrong?"

"Oh, hi, Rokia," Nariko said slowly. She was facing away from Tyr, and couldn't see his reaction to her being called by the Jotun giantess, but she wasn't sure she wanted to see it. "Um, nothing's wrong. I just…have a lot on my mind. How's Loki doing, with you moving in?"

"Ah, he'll get over it," Rokia replied, and Nariko could practically see her friend shrug nonchalantly. "And besides, he can't stay locked up in his office forever. He'll have to come down for food eventually."

"In other words, he's accepted that you're staying, but he's not happy about it." Nariko was having trouble refraining from looking behind her at her uncle, but she knew it would be best not to face him until the call was over.

Rokia giggled at Nariko's summation of Loki's reaction. "Ya, dat's about right. You'd think he'd be happier to see his mother!"

"What is it with you two, anyway?" Nariko couldn't resist asking. "I mean, you guys hardly act like, well…"

"The normal mother-son pair?" Rokia finished, and Nariko could positively hear the wolfish grin on her friend's face. "Well, we're not the normal mother or son, even taking into account the giant part. I'm an older Jotun, with all the weird traditions and beliefs and stuff, and he's more, ah, 'new age,' I suppose…he's embarrassed by me, and I suppose I am a little clingy, which doesn't help."

"It'll be interesting, dealing with you guys," Nariko admitted.

Rokia laughed for a good minute or so at that. "Ya, interesting at the very least! Heh. Anyway, where are you? Do you want to stop by for some eats?"

"I'm almost at my apartment…and thanks, but I'm not hungry."

There was a pause. "You, not hungry? Shall I assess the damage here?"

"I'm fine," Nariko assured Rokia. "I just…have some stuff to think about. I'll talk to you about it later, okay?"

Another pause. "Alright. But you'd better tell me exactly what's up, ya?"

"I will. Later." Nariko hung up without waiting for Rokia to return to good-bye. Then, with a deep breath, she turned around…

Tyr had left. And after a minute or so, so had Nariko.

((Hmph. I am not too pleased with how this chappie came out. I sort of petered out right around when Thrud asked Tyr for advice in the flashback. (The whole idea of Thrud being trained by Tyr behind Thor's back is of my own creation with no mythological basis, by the way) …I hope you guys like it alright.

And, uh…I have a confession to make. Writer's block has finally managed to catch me despite my efforts to outrun it. That most evil of all evils, also known as "high school," has slowed me down. I honestly can't think of what should happen next. As such…I'm going to take a break from my schedule.

(After dodging several thrown objects) But don't worry! I'm going to update the Lives of the Gods instead! It's not going to be the planned story dealing with Loki and Rokia-Nal back in Jotunheim, but it'll still be okay! I'll put that up on Sunday instead of a chapter here, and the Sunday afterwards I'll have hopefully thought up and written a new chapter for this story. Still, feel free to make suggestions! You could inspire me! And I'll give you credit for whatever idea I use, of course.

So, um, yeah, sorry about the lack of goodness coming from me right now! Asta la pasta!))


	19. ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello, readers, assuming you're actually reading this. "You're probably wondering "Why is this in the real story when she said she's write a filler chapter in the other one? And why is this not in the (()) that her author's notes always are?" There is a reason for that...

As you and I are painfully aware, I've been being slowly devoured by writer's block recently, and I can't escape it like I have been able to in the past. I've been giving you one shots to keep the fic going, and to try to get myself back into the writing thing, but it hasn't worked, and obviously my writing has taken its toll. I know this from the fact that the last installment in the Lives of the Gods didn't get a review. Not one single review. Not even a "This is okay." Not even a _flame._

So one I got out of the emo corner when that sunck in, I thought about it. I've been trying to keep this story alive, but instead I think I'm strangling it. You probably resent that you're just getting pointless one shots that aren't all that good, which kills the story on your part. And I realized _I'm_ starting to resent this whole thing as well, killing it on my half. I love this story, I don't want to foce it on and make it die.

**So I'm putting it on hiatus.**

It hurts me to say that, since I've been trying to keep up with it for a while, and I'm so proud of it. It's my first fanfic, the first writing I ever put up for the public to see instead of just showing my friends. And I love the story, plus I was doing a rather decent job of staying on schedule. But I'd rather put it away teporarily than accidentally kill it for good.

I can assure you that I will come back, don't you worry about that. I love this story too much to completely abandon it, plus MDLR turns me into (to quote a friend) "a puddle of fangirl," so I'm bound to think about it again. I'm hoping taking a break will help me get inspired again, since writing it without inspiration just doesn't work. I think maybe taking some time to breathe and not have to worry about the story all the time will help me get back into it, or at least keep me from seeing the fic as my "job" rather than my "passion," which is what writing is.

The longest I plan to keep this story on hiatus is a month, so the longest you'll have to wait is until early November. I promise to come back then, unless something inexplicable and unavoidable somehow prevents this, in which case I will post another announcement like this one to let you know what's what so you won't think I dropped dead or something.

Thank you for reading what has been put up, and I hope you come back when I do. I also hope to have something good for you when that day comes.

Later.


	20. ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT

OMFG, I return! I'm later than I EVER expected to be, and apologize for that, but I AM BACK!

Ahem, now for the bad news…I have no new chappie. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but due to massive amounts of homework and such I had very little time to write chapter 19…and at one point I was half done with it when my flashdrive suddenly stopped letting me use the document and I had to delete it. So…yeah.

But yes, yes, yes, I AM indeed still alive and aware that my hiatus (which will be officially ended with chapter 19 of this fic and/or a new chapter for the Lives of the Gods) took much longer than anticipated. I apologize.

Chapter 19 will be up before next Thursday, I guarantee it! Sorry for the wait!


	21. Cast Ashore

.((Yesh, after far too long, I'mma try my hand at writing another chapter for my beloved fic! I apologize, should anyone still be reading, for the long wait. Writer's block has proven more stubborn than I thought it'd be, and school didn't exactly lend me a helping hand.

But I'm gonna start the new year off right! Yeah, this chapter includes the addition of yet another of my myriad Cs (I have like a billion of 'em, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them…I may or may not end up killing one or two off…) into the story, but hey, it's gonna be a good chapter. I hope.

Ah, a review of my End of Hiatus announcement? Yes! I _do_ still have a reader! Thank you Seven Midnights!

Oh, and one more note. A while ago, my friend gave me a link to a manga site, and guess what I found? Yep, Loki! It was only about four books and the last couple of chapters up were translated rather poorly, but who cares!? I finally got to see where MDLR really started. And it is so cool, Loki solving murders and exorcising demons and being such a total screwball! So, yeah, my fic may contain some things influenced by the manga, now.

Now, let's get to the part anyone who's here surely wants: the story. Wish me luck!))

"Mayura, I'm getting a little bit tired of you dragging me around all the time," Loki said to the mystery maniac as he was, you guessed it, being dragged down the street by his arm as she led him to her school. Right after being released, she'd run to his agency, grabbed him, and started heading right back. Much as he loved the break from his mother, who'd moved in the week before (she had introduced herself as a distant cousin of Loki who had been around when he was growing up, and had taken a liking to Mayura and enjoyed actually _encouraging_ Mayura's oddities), he doubted he'd be interested in whatever Mayura wanted to show him.

"Oh, c'mon you've been grumpy as anything since Frey stole the emerald and Rokia moved in," Mayura said. "You need cheering up. Today there's a big archery meet, and those are always fun! Besides, I have a new teacher who's really cool, and when I told him about you, he seemed interested in meeting you."

"You talk about me at school?" Loki asked, a bit surprised and flustered. Typical Mayura.

"Well, yeah. Anyway, we're almost there!"

Loki sighed. Why, of all things for Mayura to drag him to, did it have to be archery? The last time Loki had seen a bow, he'd been holding it, and it'd gotten him in a lot more trouble than he'd planned. Why had he been so stupid as to make that mistletoe arrow…?

"We're here!" Mayura announced, and Loki looked about. There were lots of people around. Archery meets were apparently a big deal at Mayura's school. Loki hadn't had any idea, but then again, all he really heard about from Mayura was her beloved (one-person) mystery society.

"Oh, it hasn't started yet…" Mayura noticed as she walked around and saw various people in Archery gear hanging about. Some had gear that was blue, Mayura's school color, and others had gray gear: that must be the team from the rival school.

"Well, let's find Professor Shiromizu then! I can't wait to introduce him to you!" the girl decided, turning around and going quickly through the crowd with Loki still in her vice-like grip (he was sure he'd have bruises later from this abuse…).

"Mayura, what is this teacher like, anyway?" he asked, tired of being silent but knowing he wouldn't be able to resist being rude if he asked her to let go of him.

"Oh, he's really nice, and really smart. He teaches history. He has white hair, which is weird, he's not that old. He's also so tall, like over six feet! When he first came in, Narugami acted a little weird around him for a bit…"

_Narukami acted oddly, but no one else?_ Loki thought suddenly a bit nervous. _Oh, no, that doesn't bode well for me…_

"Oh, yeah, and whenever he's around, there's…well, a weird scent."

"Scent?"

"Not bad, just…odd…it smells like the ocean or something when he's in the room. Like salt water and sand."

"The ocean," Loki repeated, now good and worried. _Oh, please, why him? Why him!?_

"Yeah, it's weird, but nice, I think. Oh, look, there he is! Professor Shiromizu!" she called out. Not too far away, a man who matched Mayra's description looked up at her, and Loki flinched. Yeah, it was the same guy. And now he was coming closer…Aegir, the sea god whose wife had sorta kinda fallen madly obsessively in love with Loki. This was not good news, Loki thought…

"Hello, Mayura," the god in teacher's clothing said with a warm smile as he approached. "I'm surprised to see you here. You ran off so fast after class, I assumed you had an appointment or something to go to."

"No, I just went to get Loki!" Mayura told him with a smile of her own, and she pushed Loki in front of her. He rubbed his arm where Mayura had been clutching it and looked up warily at the god of the seas.

Aegir stared back. First there was no emotion, and then there was a flash of something like resentment that was so fast Loki wouldn't have spotted it if he hadn't expected to see it. Then he just looked. Amused. "I didn't expect the detective you spoke so highly of to be so tiny, Mayura," he commented.

Loki shot Aegir a dirty look, and Mayura looked sheepish. "Professor Shiromizu…"

The teacher laughed and held out his hand to Loki. "Sorry, sorry. It's good to meet you, Loki." Loki reluctantly accepted the handshake, feeling slightly awkward about being introduced to someone he already knew without being able to say anything about it.

"Yay!" Mayura said happily. "I'm sure you two will-" she stared, but was cut off by another student calling her. "Oh! Coming, Kaho! I'll be right back." And she ran off to see her friend.

Awkward turtle moment…

"Okay, if you have any more insults about my current form, just hurry up and get them over with," Loki said with a sigh, appearing to brace himself for a barrage of taunts.

Aegir just chuckled. "No, I think I'll leave it at the tiny thing," he said to the god of mischief. "I'm sure you berate yourself enough about being put in that state of transformation, you don't need too much of my help for that."

"Oh be quiet. Oh, and here's my next questions: are you planning to kill me, and if so, did Odin tell you to do so?"

Professor Shiromizu glanced down at Loki. "You're still blunt, I see. Or at least, you're blunt when you're not up to mischief and chasing everyone around in circles with your twisted chatter."

"Just answer my questions so I know how fast to bolt," Loki said simply.

Professor Shiromizu took a quick look over at Mayura to make sure she was distracted by her friend. When he saw she was, he gave Loki a very serious look and told him "I have no intention of killing you, although I have reason to. I'm just here to keep innocent bystanders out of the way." He looked at Mayura again, this time in a meaningful fashion.

"Ah," Loki said, considering that. "So you wish to defend the innocent? Well, you always did reject violence, I can't say it's uncharacteristic. But you're not doing it to aid me, are you…?"

"Not directly," Professor Shiromizu confirmed, looking about him. "I merely don't think innocents should suffer for making friends with the wrong people. That girl is especially in danger, it's all over the world of the gods that you're devoted to this one human girl in particular."

"Devoted to!?" Loki repeated, sounding indignant. "You make it sound like I'm in love with her or something!"

Professor Shiromizu gave Loki a significant look.

Loki made a face. "No way. She's cute and all, but utterly mad."

Professor Shiromizu shrugged in a fashion that implied he understood Loki but didn't believe him.

"Plus, Kori would strangle me," Loki added. "Oh, in case you don't know, Kori is Siguna's name here on Midgard.

"I know, Thor told me," the teacher said absently, still skeptical about the truth of Loki's protests.

"Whatever," Loki said with annoyance, giving up on convincing Aegir of the truth. "Whatever you think, keep it to yourself, you're enough of a liability here anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Loki looked up at the taller god with a humorless smirk. "Well if you're here, Ran can't be far behind, and with Ran comes trouble.

Aegir flinched. The truth hurts.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kotaro wandered around in the building, headed for the back. He'd made the mistake of just picking a fight with the new boyfriend of his most recent ex, and unfortunately that boyfriend was a bit tougher than Kotaro had thought. It'd be better for him to avoid them, so he'd gotten away and was going to go out the back exits to watch the meet, maybe find a few girls to flirt with.

"Um, excuse me!" came a voice from behind him. It was a girl's voice, too, so of course Kotaro couldn't ignore it, He half turned to see the speaker.

She was one of the girls from the rival school's archery team, and, more importantly, she was very good looking. Her hair was cut short, mostly black with bangs dyed white and so long they almost covered her teal eyes. She was thin and lithe and moved with grace. And her smile was something to marvel at, Kotaro thought.

"Hi," the girl said when she got closer. "I'm sorry, but could you help me get back outside? I came in to get a drink, but I'm afraid I got a little lost." She had a definite American accent.

"Oh, of course I will," Kotaro replied, smiling himself. "I'm always willing to help a lady. Follow me."

"Oh, thank you," the girl said gratefully. "My name is Cosette Calder, by the way."

"I'm Kotaro Kakinouchi," Kotaro introduced himself. "You're name's interesting. You're American, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah, I am," Cosette confirmed, nodding. "You're smart. I'm here on an exchange program, to learn Japanese. I'm already pretty good, though," she added, smiling humbly and raising her hands in a shrug.

Kotaro would have complimented her by agreeing, had he not spotted on her arms a smattering of scars. "Oh…er, not to be rude, but, may I ask…?" he pointed to her arm.

"Oh, these?" she said, glancing at her arm. "That's from a week or so ago. When I got here and was being driven to my hotel, the bus crashed, and I got hurt." She lifted her bangs to show off another, large cut on her forehead that was stitched shut. "But I was alright. The doctors said I should have gotten severe head and neck injuries and been crippled at least, but all I got were the cuts."

"You're a lucky lady," Kotaro complimented, not being distracted from her beauty.

Cosette smiled at Kotaro, enjoying the attention she received from him.

"Yes, I am."

((I know, I know, short chapter, give me a break, I haven't put up a chapter for this in ages and need some time to get back in the groove! I'll have another (relatively short) chapter up soon (I hope), and they'll get longer and longer as time goes on until they're back to their usual around ten pages on Word length, okay? Okay.

Also, remember a few chapters back, the girl on the bus? That's Cosette. So, it's rather obvious who she "really is," so to speak…oh dear.

Please review and tell me if I'm still an okay writer!))


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